On 10/04/2008, Delirium delirium@hackish.org wrote:
That still leads us to the initial question---how do we determine accuracy and truth? Generally, we determine it by consulting and citing sources, rather than doing original research ourselves. For example, if through consulting archival documents I determine that the standard attribution of some ancient Greek poet to the 4th century BC is actually incorrect, and the truth is that he lived in the 2nd century BC, it would still be appropriate for Wikipedia to report that he lived in the 4th century BC, unless I get my new estimate published in a classics journal first.
That's fine for eventualism, but breaks down with living bios - on which we are forced to be immediatist in order to avoid causing actual harm, because we're vastly popular and have a ridiculously high Google page rank.
- d.