Domain facts need aggressive updating; structural…
Distinguish domain-specific facts (treatment protocols, software frameworks, market conditions) requiring aggressive temporal updating from structural principles (logic, mathematics, core psychological mechanisms) where age indicates Lindy-tested robustness, applying opposite update strategies to each type.
When This Fires
- Evaluating whether stored information is still valid (Quarterly depreciation reviews)
- Deciding whether to update your knowledge about a topic
- When someone dismisses established knowledge as "old" or defends outdated practices as "proven"
- Classifying new information for appropriate shelf-life treatment
Common Failure Mode
Applying uniform temporal treatment: either treating all knowledge as rapidly depreciating (constantly chasing the newest research, ignoring Lindy-tested foundations) or treating all knowledge as timeless (relying on decade-old framework comparisons, trusting market analyses from three years ago). The classification matters — different knowledge types need different strategies.
The Protocol
When evaluating information currency: (1) Classify: is this a domain-specific fact or a structural principle? (2) Domain facts → apply aggressive temporal updating. Check: when was this published? Have conditions changed since? Is there a newer version? (3) Structural principles → apply Lindy reasoning. Check: how long has this principle been established? Has it survived multiple paradigm shifts? Does new evidence genuinely challenge the mechanism, or just the application? (4) Apply opposite update strategies: suspicious of old domain facts, trusting of old structural principles.