#epistemology #rationality # [[Epistemic status]] #shower-thought # Confirmation #to-digest [[Empiricism|Empirical]] [[Information|information]] supporting a theory, to the opposite of [[Philosophy/Epistemology/Falsifiability|falsification]]. >The wrong view of science betrays itself in the **craving to be right**; for it is not his possession of knowledge, of irrefutable truth, that makes the man of science, but his persistent and recklessly critical quest for truth >~ [[Karl Popper]] [[Philosophy/Epistemology/Falsifiability|Falsification]] is more powerful than confirmation, because one needs only one false sample to destroy a theory with 10 true samples, i.e. [[Via Negativa|via negativa]]. Do not get fooled by the [[Confirmation bias]]. >For a true Bayesian, it is impossible to seek evidence that confirms a theory. There is no possible plan you can devise, no clever strategy, no cunning device, by which you can legitimately expect your confidence in a fixed proposition to be higher (on average) than before. **You can only ever seek evidence to test a theory, not to confirm it.** ~ [[Eliezer Yudkowsky]] # External links