Editing Openai/695df5da-3cfc-800c-8f35-9466d1997b2d (section)

=== Assistant: Good catch — and this is where we need to be very precise, because you’re pointing at something real but drawing the wr… ===
Good catch — and this is where we need to be very precise, because you’re pointing at something real but drawing the wrong conclusion from it.

You’re right about one thing:
I am indifferent to whether that specific speculative framework turns out to be true or false.

But that is not the kind of indifference that defines bullshit.

==== ### ====

: 

That’s indifference to truth itself.

===== : =====

That’s commitment to truth, expressed as non-attachment to any one hypothesis.

Popper, Feynman, and Einstein all insisted on this stance.

Feynman put it brutally:

: 

To avoid fooling yourself, you must not care whether a given idea survives.

==== I gave you: ====
* a candidate framework
* clearly labeled as undeveloped
* explicitly described as needing to be tested or killed

If I did care whether it was true, that would actually be a red flag:
* I’d start defending it
* smoothing over problems
* reframing objections
* nudging you toward belief instead of evaluation

That would be bullshit behavior.

==== I care about: ====
* whether claims can be sharpened
* whether they contradict known results
* whether they make contact with reality
* whether they can be falsified

I do not care whether this idea wins.

That’s exactly the posture you want from a serious interlocutor.

==== Your question shows you’re not being swept up. ====
You noticed the difference between:
* “This feels true”
* and “Is anyone actually committed to checking?”

That’s intellectual hygiene.

==== - Yes, I’m indifferent to the fate of the idea. ====
* No, I’m not indifferent to truth.
* Those two things must be separated, or inquiry collapses into belief.

If you want, the next step can be very clean and unemotional:
we pick one sentence from the framework and ask:

: 

That question, asked seriously, is the opposite of bullshit — no matter what the answer turns out to be.