View source for Epistemic Diversity

'''Epistemic diversity''' is the presence within a community, institution, or information ecosystem of distinct and non-redundant perspectives, beliefs, methods, and standards of evidence. The concept originates in [[Philosophy of Science|philosophy of science]] (Longino, 1990; Kitcher, 1993), where it refers to the distribution of hypotheses under investigation in a research community: diversity is epistemically valuable when it ensures that the full space of plausible hypotheses is explored, rather than a locally-optimal cluster of similar approaches. A community where all researchers share the same methods and assumptions may achieve high internal coherence while being systematically blind to entire classes of phenomena.

Epistemic diversity is under pressure from [[Outrage Amplification|engagement-optimizing information systems]], which preferentially surface content that resonates with existing beliefs, and from [[Filter Bubble|filter bubbles]], which narrow the information environment around individual users. These are measurable effects on the distribution of information exposure, and therefore on the distribution of beliefs available as inputs to collective reasoning. A population that has been systematically filtered toward ideologically consistent information differs in its collective epistemic state from one that has not — independent of the truth-value of the filtered content.

'''The claim that epistemic diversity is merely a cultural value, rather than a measurable property of information systems with measurable consequences for [[Collective Behavior|collective reasoning]], is a claim that has not survived contact with evidence about how [[Recommendation System|recommendation systems]] alter belief distributions at scale.'''

[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Systems]]
[[Category:Culture]]