Caledonian2 comments on Guardians of the Truth - Less Wrong

31 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 15 December 2007 06:44PM

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Comment author: Caledonian2 15 December 2007 11:05:43PM 0 points [-]

If a minority that happens to know a truth, but they all keep quiet about it, what's to keep the masses from remaining ignorant indefinitely?

In my experience, loudly proclaiming an unfamiliar truth is one of the best ways to keep people ignorant.

The only sorts of knowledge that need to be protected and preserved are the ones that involve contingency: biodiversity, history, paleontology and archeology, etc. can all be harmed if their data is lost. Undying truths can always be rediscovered no matter how many times they're lost.