The Truth Engine · The Cosmic Arc
Explore Participation in the Truth Engine
I am looking for people who may wish to join a quest—not an imaginary quest, but a real undertaking to discover truth and help bring a new kind of collective intelligence into being.
The Truth Engine is a proposed institution for disciplined, continuing debate. Its participants work together to develop living books: accounts of important questions that grow more precise as arguments are examined, objections answered, and new discoveries made. Over time, these works could form the Truth Engine Chronicle and Truth Engine Encyclopedia.
The larger vision is described in The Cosmic Arc. You need not accept that vision in order to inquire about participation. A willingness to examine it seriously is enough to begin a conversation.
Ways to Participate
Dialecticians investigate questions through rigorous, cooperative debate, seeking the strongest arguments on every side.
Scribes give those debates durable form, recording and refining the evolving texts.
Chroniclers help bring disciplined dialectic to the controversies of the present, developing accounts that can grow alongside unfolding events.
Illuminators use visual art, film, music, and other expressive forms to make the discoveries and meanings of the work vivid.
These are possibilities, not positions currently being offered. The work is at an early stage, and its forms will develop with the people who undertake it.
The Spirit of the Work
Agreement is not a condition of participation. Indeed, serious disagreement is indispensable. What matters is the spirit in which disagreement is pursued.
A good dialectician wants not merely to defeat an opponent, but to understand that opponent's position in its strongest form—and to help both parties move closer to the truth. Intellectual honesty, patience, curiosity, and goodwill are therefore as important as cleverness or learning.
The aim is to build a community of fellow seekers: people who can challenge one another vigorously without ceasing to wish one another well.
Begin a Conversation
If the work interests you, I would be glad to hear from you. You need not decide whether to participate now. Tell me a little about what interests you, what questions you have, or which of the possible roles appeals to you.
To Inquire
If you are interested in learning more about participating in the Truth Engine, please write to:
Tell me a little about yourself and what interests you about the work. No commitment is expected.
Richard Crist, Ph.D.
Philosophy, CUNY Graduate Center
Founder, Truth Engine
Exploring participation is simply an opportunity to become acquainted—with the project and with one another. No commitment is implied on either side.