Sources

Source (What)

A source is any actor (person or group), entity (e.g., an AI tool), or medium (e.g., a book, website, video, lecture, or journal) that provides information or evidence.

Examples

  1. I found this fact about chemical bonding in a chemistry book (the book is the source).

  2. According to ChatGPT, I should unhook the negative battery cable of my car battery before the positive cable. (ChatGPT is the source).

  3. In a news article, the author cited two unnamed sources.

  4. You can find information about the University of Idaho on their website (the source is this website).

Analysis

Here is a breakdown of the main ideas in this definition.

Information:
Information is the set of things {facts, opinions, concepts, nomenclature, methods, histroy} that are use to communicate about a topic.
Evidence
Evidence is observable information that supports, verifies, or disproves a claim.
Fact (Objective Statement)
A fact is a statement that is true and whose truth value is established by direct means such as observations, experiments, calculations, estimates, and so on. A fact is independent of anyone’s opinion. A fact can also be called an objective statement.
Opinions (Subjective Statement)
A subjective statement is a statement that is true for one or more people, but not true for everyone. Example: The best color for a car is white. Subjective statements reflect values, preferences, beliefs, and so on.

Reliable Sources (Good Sources)

A source is reliable if and only if (iff) it meets the following criteria:

  1. Its factual information is verifiable and consistently accurate based on credible evidence and expert consensus.

  2. Its subjective statements are well-supported by logical reasoning, credible evidence, or expert analysis.

  3. It acknowledges uncertainty appropriately.

Informally, I call a reliable source a “good source.”

Rationale for Skill with Sources

Here are some reasons why it is worthwhile to be skilled with recognizing reliable sources and getting your information from them and not from other sources.

  1. Get accurate information. Have an accurate view of reality.

  2. Form opinions that are well grounded.

  3. Understand the uncertainty associated with information.

  4. Saves huge amounts of time and effort.

  5. Avoid believing things that are not true. Avoid having opinions that are not well justified. Avoid spreading misinformation and lousy opinions with your family, friends, colleagues, and the general public.

Skill with Sources (How To)

Principles

  1. For any topic, there are good sources of information.

  2. Good sources can be identified by those with the right skill sets.

  3. Many (perhaps most) sources of information are not reliable.

Framework

  1. Find several reliable sources of information. Several can mean two or three or many as in thirty.

  2. Get your information from multiple reliable sources. Look for consensus among your sources.

  3. Attach the appropriate level of uncertainty to the information.

Tips

  1. Always make sure that you get a positive payoff from getting information. This means the rewards you get from the information outweigh the drawbacks such as your time and effort.

  2. Develop your own list of reliable sources.

  3. Develop the skills needed to check an unknown source for reliability.

  4. Develop the skills needed to quickly recognize cults, fraud, fraudsters, con artists, bullshitters, and sources that you should avoid.