RSS

Epistemic Spot Check

TagLast edit: 9 Oct 2025 20:34 UTC by gustaf

Epistemic Spot Check is a technique for figuring out the value of a learning resource (usually a book).
Fact checking every single claim of a book takes too long. But you can sample a few claims and fact check them, this let’s you gauge better whether other claims by that author are correct.

This technique was invented by Elizabeth.

See also: Epistemic Review, Scholarship & Learning

Why Yud­kowsky is wrong about “co­va­lently bonded equiv­a­lents of biol­ogy”

titotal6 Dec 2023 14:09 UTC
45 points
41 comments16 min readLW link
(open.substack.com)

What Comes After Epistemic Spot Checks?

Elizabeth22 Oct 2019 17:00 UTC
122 points
9 comments3 min readLW link
(acesounderglass.com)

How’s that Epistemic Spot Check Pro­ject Com­ing?

Elizabeth16 Dec 2019 22:50 UTC
39 points
16 comments4 min readLW link
(acesounderglass.com)

Did Christo­pher Hitchens change his mind about wa­ter­board­ing?

Isaac King15 Sep 2024 8:28 UTC
174 points
24 comments7 min readLW link

The Ur­gency of Nor­mal: An Ex­er­cise in Bounded Distrust

Zvi3 Feb 2022 18:10 UTC
46 points
3 comments11 min readLW link
(thezvi.wordpress.com)

Epistemic Legibility

Elizabeth9 Feb 2022 18:10 UTC
317 points
30 comments20 min readLW link1 review
(acesounderglass.com)

Epistemic spot check­ing one claim in The Precipice

Isaac King27 Jun 2023 1:03 UTC
33 points
3 comments1 min readLW link

“Eat­ing Dirt Benefits Kids” is Ba­si­cally Made Up

Elizabeth8 Oct 2021 8:30 UTC
72 points
13 comments3 min readLW link
(acesounderglass.com)

Can we hold in­tel­lec­tu­als to similar pub­lic stan­dards as ath­letes?

ozziegooen7 Oct 2020 4:22 UTC
84 points
48 comments3 min readLW link1 review

Re­view: Mar­tyr Made Podcast

Elizabeth23 Sep 2021 20:10 UTC
22 points
0 comments8 min readLW link
(acesounderglass.com)

A ques­tion about Eliezer

perpetualpeace119 Apr 2012 17:27 UTC
55 points
160 comments1 min readLW link

Epistemic Spot Checks: The Fall of Rome

Elizabeth16 Oct 2019 18:40 UTC
38 points
2 comments8 min readLW link
(acesounderglass.com)

Epistemic Spot Check: A Guide To Bet­ter Move­ment (Todd Har­grove)

Elizabeth1 Jul 2017 5:20 UTC
16 points
7 comments5 min readLW link
(acesounderglass.com)

Epistemic Spot Check: Un­con­di­tional Parenting

Elizabeth10 Nov 2019 20:10 UTC
22 points
6 comments3 min readLW link
(acesounderglass.com)

How ac­cu­rate is the quan­tum physics se­quence?

Paul Crowley17 Apr 2012 6:54 UTC
72 points
68 comments1 min readLW link

Epistemic Spot Check: Ex­er­cise for Mood and Anx­iety (Michael W. Otto, Jasper A.J. Smits)

Elizabeth9 Sep 2017 23:50 UTC
12 points
0 comments7 min readLW link
(acesounderglass.com)

Epistemic Spot Check: Full Catas­tro­phe Liv­ing (Jon Ka­bat-Zinn)

Elizabeth29 Dec 2017 6:10 UTC
17 points
10 comments5 min readLW link
(acesounderglass.com)

Doubt Certainty

RationalDino2 Nov 2023 17:43 UTC
4 points
13 comments3 min readLW link

Epistemic Spot Check: The Role of De­liber­ate Prac­tice in the Ac­qui­si­tion of Ex­pert Performance

Elizabeth25 Jun 2019 23:00 UTC
81 points
9 comments4 min readLW link
(acesounderglass.com)

Epistemic Spot Check: The De­mon Un­der the Micro­scope (Thomas Hager)

Elizabeth21 Jun 2017 16:00 UTC
6 points
0 comments4 min readLW link
(acesounderglass.com)

Epistemic Spot Check: The Fate of Rome (Kyle Harper)

Elizabeth24 Aug 2019 21:40 UTC
39 points
3 comments5 min readLW link
(acesounderglass.com)

Con­tra StatNews: How Long to Herd Im­mu­nity?

AppliedDivinityStudies20 Jan 2021 22:06 UTC
24 points
0 comments11 min readLW link

Epistemic Spot Check: Fa­tigue and the Cen­tral Gover­nor Module

Elizabeth1 Dec 2019 0:10 UTC
19 points
2 comments5 min readLW link
(acesounderglass.com)

Epistemic Spot Check: The Dorito Effect (Mark Schatzker)

Elizabeth3 Oct 2018 17:10 UTC
43 points
8 comments1 min readLW link
(acesounderglass.com)
No comments.