Chapter 18: The proof

Saying what you don't know

Saying plainly where your knowledge and your evidence stop. "I don't know, and here is how I would find out" is a complete answer. An absolute such as "always" or "fully tested" only needs one counter-example to sink you.

If you spend your days reading agent output, you can start to sound like it: fluent, sure of itself, and short of limits. A sceptic listens for that. Naming what your checks can't catch is also the fastest way to show you have really run them.

Say it to your agent

“Read this paragraph of mine for overclaims. Mark every absolute, every number with no source, and everything I state as general that I only saw once. Rewrite it with each limit attached, in under 80 words. Don't add anything I haven't told you.”

The workshop

Name a word, or describe what you mean in everyday language.