The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 7 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Ridley: Billions in licensing costs are blocking new nuclear power station designs
“So for example, you know, we've been unable to come up with new designs for nuclear power stations for several decades. That's because licensing a new design for nuclear power station would cost billions under the present licensing system. So nobody bothers to…”
Ridley: Smithsonian Refused for Decades to Credit Wright Brothers With Flight
“The Smithsonian Institution didn't want to give the Wright brothers credit for being the first people in the air for decades afterwards, and they had on display Langley's plane, which had been modified so that it would work after the event, but they were final…”
Ridley: Edison beat 20 rivals by testing 6,000 different plant filaments
“The difference between him and the 20 other people who invented the light bulb around the same time is that he was prepared to put in the slog of testing 6000 different types of plant material before settling on Japanese bamboo for the filament of his light bu…”
Ridley: Google founders initially thought they were just cataloguing the internet
“Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who invented Google, thought they were cataloguing the internet. They didn't think they were inventing a search engine to start with.”
Ridley: Insecticide-Treated Bed Nets Drove the Steep Post-2003 Decline in Malaria
“Malaria was going up until 2003. It's now going down as a cause of mortality in the world, going down pretty steeply. And it's entirely due to this, but not entirely, but it's nearly all due to this technology. It's more effective than anti-malarial drugs more…”
Ridley: Post-Revolution Americans used disguised preachers to steal British industrial secrets
“There's a fascinating period in history soon after the American Revolution when Americans were engaged in rampant industrial espionage to try and steal secrets of Britain's industry. And they sent all sorts of people over to prowl around pretending to be Preac…”