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Why Truth Management Matters

Three interconnected claims build toward the thesis that documenting one's "truth" on a source control platform like GitHub is extremely helpful for any individual or collective to consistently take steps that change the world in a meaningful way.

Claim 1: An Entity Should Be Deeply Grounded In A Foundation of "Truth"​

To change the world in any meaningful way, an "entity" must operate from a foundational understanding of reality. An entity is either an individual human or multiple humans aligned on shared action, potentially aided by AI.

Defining an Entity's Truth​

An entity's truth encompasses:

  • Assumptions about the world: How reality operates in domains relevant to the entity's goals
  • Motivating narrative: The story of why the entity exists and why its mission is worth pursuing
  • Agency framework: How the entity plans to act as an agent within that reality
  • Decision criteria: The principles and frameworks used to determine right action

Why Grounding In Truth Is Essential​

Consistent right action requires clarity: To consistently get what you want from the world, you must understand and test the frameworks driving your decisions.

The alignment problem: As entities scale, maintaining shared understanding becomes exponentially harder. Misaligned assumptions create coordination failures that compound with team size.

The caliber of an entity's actions is only as strong as the accuracy of its truth: An entity can only make decisions as good as their understanding of the world they're operating within, their role and capabilities, and the criteria they use to evaluate possible actions.

Claim 2: Entities Should Document Their "Truth"​

The best way to help entities consistently understand their truth is through documenting that truth.

Why Put In The Work To Document Truth​

  • Memory is unreliable: Individuals forget, misremember, or recall different versions of the same conversation or decision.
  • Verbal communication is insufficient: Spoken explanations are temporary, imprecise, and interpreted differently by each listener.
  • Assumptions create gaps: When truth remains implicit, individuals fill gaps with personal assumptions that often contradict each other.

How Documentation Enables Shared Understanding​

  • Creates a single source of reference that all individuals can access
  • Enables systematic review and improvement for logical consistency and completeness
  • Facilitates onboarding and alignment for new individuals joining the entity
  • Supports evolution over time as the entity's understanding improves
  • Enables AI alignment so AI systems operate from entity-specific understanding rather than generic training

Claim 3: Software Source Control Is the Best Method for Documenting "Truth"​

The best way to document truth that can evolve is through software source control systems like Git.

Why Source Control Is Ideal​

  • Every worldview is flawed: Source control is designed for iterative improvement, which is exactly what evolving truth requires.
  • Version history preserves reasoning: Every change includes context about the reasoning behind modifications.
  • Collaborative evolution: Multiple individuals can propose changes, review modifications, and discuss improvements before they become official.
  • Machine readability for AI agents: Written in Markdown, truth documentation becomes both human-readable and machine-readable.
  • Proven methodology: Software developers have long practiced the craft of evolving open-source repositories and documenting why evolution happened.

The Beautiful Symmetry​

Just as source code runs applications, documented truth runs organizations. Both serve as precise instructions that guide action. Truth documentation essentially functions as prompt engineering for both individual human agents and AI agents working within the entity.

Recap​

Entities that want to change the world need grounding in truth. That truth should be documented to ensure shared understanding. And source control provides the best method for evolving that documentation over time.