CF Dictionary · Error Correction & Learning
Error Correction
The process of finding and fixing mistakes. CF treats error correction as the central mechanism of learning and progress.
Error correction is the process of finding and fixing mistakes. CF treats it as the central mechanism of learning, progress, and rationality.
CF's core claim
"We learn by an evolutionary process focused on error correction, not by induction or justification." Error correction is what CR calls the engine of knowledge growth, and CF extends it in two directions:
- Yes/No evaluation — refuted or non-refuted, not "kinda".
- Overreach management — error correction has a capacity, and exceeding it is a problem.
Why error correction, not error prevention
CF notes that you cannot prevent errors at the source — fallibility is universal. You can only catch them after the fact. So:
- Make errors cheap to find. Public ideas, clear writing, debate trees.
- Make errors cheap to fix. Don't entrench them.
- Build budgets. Don't exceed your error-correction capacity.
Error correction vs. negative thinking
CF is not about being negative. Error correction is constructive: the goal is improvement, not criticism-as-pessimism. Most errors are routine and fixable.
What error correction looks like
- Find an error in an IGC.
- Diagnose its cause.
- Replace the IGC with one without the error.
- Check the replacement (does it have its own errors?).
- Repeat.
"We learn by an evolutionary process focused on error correction." — criticalfallibilism.com