notes-opinionNet

Phill, my only problem with facts is my ignorance of them. Quite seriously, I think that in a democracy, discourse needs to be conducted in such a way that large numbers of people can take part in politics even though only a few of them are experts or historians. My temporary solution to this is to feel free to state unsupported feelings as long as they are clearly marked as such, and to back them up with facts only after called upon to do so. The more permanent solution (OpinionNet?) will allow people to reference a global namespace of sub-propositions that support their argument (but which may be too technical for them to research themselves) in a formal fashion.

In other words, I want to pass the buck to the experts where possible, allowing a division of labor in argumentation and discourse. The result should be like a form of distributed formal "debate" which is carried on not between two people but amongst hundreds.