[dstorrs]

You might check out this novel:

http://www.amazon.com/Davids-Sling-Marc-Stiegler/dp/06716536...

Among other things, Stiegler posits a "Zetetic Institute" that teaches people how to think better -- effectively, an "organic foods" industry for the mind.

[tygorius]

Interesting. Stiegler's book is copyrighted 1988, but "Zetetic" references were also briefly popular in the mid-1970s as well. If I recall correctly P.J. Plauger had a Zetetic Institute in one of his SF stories back then, for example. The term refers to a form of Pyrrhonism -- basically skepticism without the dogmatic certainty that can be just as blinding as affirmative certainty.

[CamperBob]

Isn't that basically what the Singularity Institute and http://lesswrong.com/ guys are trying to do?

[billswift]

I added this from David's Sling to the December Rationality Quotes thread on Less Wrong (http://lesswrong.com/lw/37k/rationality_quotes_december_2010...):

In the Information Age, the first step to sanity is FILTERING. Filter the information; extract the knowledge.

Filter first for substance. Filter second for significance. These filters protect against advertising.

Filter third for reliability. This filter protects against politicians.

Filter fourth for completeness. This filter protects from the media.

-- Marc Stielger, David's Sling