More actions
Predicates
The word '''predicate''', according to the dictionary, means something that is affirmed or denied of the subject in a proposition in logic. Predicates are central to the ratings system since they are the basic elements upon which truth or falsity can be judged. Here we will discuss how predicates are generated and how they fit into the ratings system.
Predicate Generation
Let’s discuss some of the basic qualities we’d like to know about people or institutions before we deal with them.
Character/General Questions
Is X fundamentally honest? By fundamentally we mean does X believe he is honest when he communicates with you? It is the same as asking whether X is willfully trying to deceive you.
Is X accurate in his communications with you? How accurate?
Is X biased in some important way? That is, independently of the above, does X tend to gravitate toward certain subjects, avoid others, omit important information (unconsciously), have a worldview that is colored by his bias, etc.?
Does X honor explicit and implicit contracts? If you have an agreement with X, does X hold up his end? If you have an implied agreement with X, does X try to hold up his end (even if he can’t)?
Is X a fundamentally reasonable and decent person? Is X courteous in his dealings with you and others? How does X treat the cashier at the supermarket? If X sees someone bleeding out on the street, does he stop and try to help or does he pretend he never saw it?
Is X disabled in some way that impairs his ability to fully participate in society and score well on any of the above questions?
What is X’s personality and temperament? Talkative? Fun? Serious? Irreverent?
Work/Economics Questions
Is X competent in the areas that I work with him in?
Is X responsive? Does X try to help you when you ask?
Is X productive? How productive? Does X follow the productivity norms of our society? Does X reasonably contribute what he can to society, within the scope of his abilities? This is not a question of what X’s job is. The “job” can be anything productive X does.
Does X use his assets in productive and society-enhancing ways? If X has a lot of money, does he invest or contribute that money to worthwhile activities? If investors have put a lot of money in X, does X try hard to produce a good return? If X is the inheritor of a lot of money, what did he do with it?
If X has significantly more money than the norm, did X earn that money through productive activity? Were the activities worth the amount of money X now possesses? This is partly a market judgement but more importantly a value judgement.
Notice what we are not asking. We are explicitly not asking about how much wealth X possesses. This should not be a rating criterion. The only valid question is whether, having obtained wealth, what it is being used for. This is important because today, wealth, whether people admit it or not, is an important criterion for how people are rated. But it’s an example of a bad, and socially corrosive, ratings category.
Community
A community is a group of people. Here is a link to the main page. Here is a link to the a nice magazine. So you don't need a pipe for the outside links, just a space. You can also link to other wikis by doing wikipedia:Bitcoin.
Here is a list of registered wiki's.
This is bold.
This is italic.
Here is an equation but it doesn't obey the dark template mode.
