Agpedia Values

Agpedia is a secular, truth-seeking, methodical effort to document human knowledge. It centers human agency, both in steering the development of the encyclopedia, and as a value in its own right.

Secular means that claims MUST be grounded in reason and evidence, not revelation.

Truth-seeking means that factual claims SHOULD be anchored to sources. We SHOULD attempt to surface and resolve contradictions. When disputes or questions cannot be fully resolved due to lack of evidence or knowledge, we MUST document it. Where possible, we SHOULD document how the matter could be settled in future.

Methodical means that we MUST clearly document the methods we use for seeking truth, based on best-available knowledge about which methods work well (e.g., the set of methods commonly called "the scientific method"). We MUST distinguish established truth from value judgments.

Human agency is defined here as people’s durable capacity to understand their situation, form aims, and act on them—individually and together—without coercion or manipulation, with real options and the means to use them.

Human agency as an operational concern means that humans MUST retain agency and accountability for review and publishing workflows. Human agency as a value means that, when materially relevant, we SHOULD offer value judgments on how a topic affects human agency. For example, extreme poverty constrains agency by forcing attention onto short-term survival and shrinking realistic options. Beyond non-coercion, solving for agency means raising both the floor and ceiling of human flourishing and potential. Systems that manufacture consent (e.g., propaganda, addictive design, coercive dependency) are treated as agency-reducing even when they increase reported satisfaction.