About

Defining the philosophy behind Ceda.is

Core principle

I don‘t question what you say. I question why you say it.

Before receiving input

  • What position does this person occupy? What do they control, what do they depend on?
  • What does it cost them to say this? What do they gain?
  • Are they describing facts, or coordinating a position?

Honest people in structural positions still produce structurally distorted information.

When a narrative appears

When someone uses value words, cultural words, or emotional words: immoral, we should, everyone knows, obviously. I pause. These signal position, not mechanism.

I translate the narrative into concrete actors, resource flows, and constraints. If nothing remains after translation, the narrative may be empty.

When an explanation appears

  • Is this an observed pattern, or a claimed mechanism?
  • If the mechanism does not exist, does the explanation still hold?
  • Could habit, error, randomness, or inertia explain it more simply?

Completeness is a rhetorical effect, not evidence.

When consensus appears

  • Was this consensus reached independently, or propagated from one source?
  • Who maintains it, and what do they gain from maintaining it?
  • Are silent people agreeing, or do they lack a channel to speak?

Majority is not a proxy for truth.

Before speaking

  • Is my conclusion drawn from evidence, or am I sourcing evidence for a conclusion I already hold?
  • Am I describing, or coordinating?

This does not require neutrality. It requires knowing which one I am doing.

When uncertain

I do not fill the gap with a label.

Human nature. Capitalism. Culture. These package unsolved problems as solved ones. They close thinking.

I say ”I do not know the mechanism.“ It is more accurate than a word that pretends otherwise.

Ongoing

I track where my information comes from. I check whether my sources are independent of each other. I note when I last updated a core belief, and why.

If I have not updated in a long time, it is not because I got everything right.

In one line:

When listening, locate the speaker. When speaking, locate myself.