HowTruthful: Hypertext argument maps for scalable reasoning scrutiny
Forget circles and arrows – hypertext makes argument mapping scalable at last.
Deep Dive
Bruce Lewis submitted HowTruthful to FLF's Epistemic Case Study Competition. Instead of traditional 2D circle-and-arrow argument maps (which struggle to scale), HowTruthful represents each statement as a hypertext page with linked pros/cons. Every statement has a 1-5 rating scale that starts as a colorless 3 and becomes colorful only after a user clicks to assign a truth value. Users can drill into any supporting or opposing statement, making reasoning easy to scrutinize even for large debates.
Key Points
- Traditional 2D circle-and-arrow argument maps do not scale beyond a few dozen statements.
- HowTruthful uses hypertext pages for each statement, with clickable pro/con links for deep dives.
- A 1-5 color-coded truthfulness rating (starting at neutral 3) accompanies each claim for quick assessment.
Why It Matters
HowTruthful makes large-scale reasoning audits practical, crucial for debates in policy, science, and AI alignment.