In "monopoly epistemicsu201d, one privileged actor is asked to identify the truth. In u201cdemocratic epistemicsu201d, several independent parties are asked. In an experiment contrasting them, democratic epistemics reduced the systemic error rate by two-thirds, supporting the claim that replacing monopoly epistemics with democratic epistemics would reduce error rates in forensic science and other areas. It also suggests first, the potential of u201cepistemic systems designu201d, which employs the techniques of economic systems design to address issues of veracity, rather than efficiency, and second, the value of u201cexperimental epistemologyu201d, which employs experimental techniques in the study of science. Research of the sort described here puts evolutionary epistemology into practice by seeking to find the proper design principles for error-correcting social institutions.
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