Closing Remarks

In an essay about Jorge Luis Borges’ The Library of Babel—a short story conceiving of a universe in the form of a vast library containing all possible knowledge in 410-page books of a specific character set—philosopher W. V. O. Quine proposed that such a library could be constructed in its entirety simply by writing a dot on one piece of paper and a dash on another.

Quine writes:

Persistent repetition and alternation of the two are sufficient, we well know, for spelling out any and every truth. The miracle of the finite but universal library is a mere inflation of the miracle of binary notation: everything worth saying, and everything else as well, can be said with two characters.

Such a notion forms the prototypical basis of Hypothesis’ similarly binary model: that persistent repetition and alternation of two opposite truth values are sufficient for defining in objective terms any and every observation of reality. “Yes” and “No,” organized to lay bare truth in stark terms, combine as the focal point of a new and simple framework that meaningfully quantifies intuition and accountability without sacrificing nuance.

We the Hypothesis founders are devoted to building the next great information platform that engenders a powerful and fresh reappraisal of the ways people build their understanding of the world. With a set of innovative metrics at its core, this system will be transparent and trustworthy in ways that other products have failed to become. In redefining the incentives that mold digital content publishing, distribution and consumption, Hypothesis forges a deeper, more vibrant connection between the stakeholders driving each process.

Hypothesis will be built initially as a mobile app, with a roadmap that includes expanding to browsers and exploring the possible implementation of solutions for user-driven content creation and monetization. Hypothesis intends for Foresight and Usefulness to become platform-agnostic, so will therefore focus heavily on the robust development of Foresight API and other related products that make Foresight and Usefulness simple and easy to adopt.

The culmination of the vision for Hypothesis laid out in this paper is a blueprint for a platform that distills the complexities of modern society into simple yet meaningful moments of interaction. Implemented correctly, it can scale to widespread adoption and serve its intended use as the foundation of a new viable category of products building a more trustworthy digital future. Veritas filia temporis.

-Miles Goscha, Per Gylfe & Andreas Gebhard