[ExI] Polanyi's Personal Coefficient

[BillK]

On Sun, 6 Sept 2026 at 20:26, John Galt via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> Certainly Michael Polanyi is familiar to you guys and you’ve discussed him before. I recently re-read Personal Knowledge (1958) and found his concept of the personal coefficient extremely pertinent. I am contemplating a review of it (70y later!) because I believe the advance of AI has vindicated his thesis that even the most objective knowledge (such as data), still requires a knower who judges.
>
> As you probably know, Polanyi’s personal coefficient is the irreducible contribution of the knower to every act of knowing: facts do not simply arrange and interpret themselves, but are selected, integrated, judged, and ultimately affirmed by a person using experience, tacit knowledge, skill, intuition, and standards that cannot be fully reduced to explicit rules. Even scientific knowledge (and all objective information including data) therefore contains a personal commitment: “I believe this is true, and I am prepared to stand behind that judgment.” All the while remaining fallible and answerable to reality. For Polanyi, this does not make knowledge merely subjective; rather, responsible personal judgment is precisely how human beings reach objective truth claims at all.
>
> (written in ethical collaboration with AI)
>
> --John
>
> johngaltbooks at proton.me
> _______________________________________________


About this book and its relevance to modern AI, I just had an argument
with one AI and a discussion with another AI.
What strikes me is that if I were contemplating writing a review of
the book, then the modern AIs could probably write a better review
than me. So is that relevance or just ironic?

BillK