Core vs Deep Rationality
Core vs Deep Rationality separates integrity of belief from skill in evidence processing.
Two Axes, Not One Scale
The central distinction of the project is that rationality has at least two separable dimensions. Deep Rationality concerns the skill of seeing. Core Rationality concerns the integrity of believing according to what one sees.
Why the Distinction Helps
The distinction prevents two errors. First, it prevents blaming honest novices as if every mistake were bad faith. Second, it prevents excusing biased experts as rational simply because they are intelligent.
The Four Quadrants
High Deep and high Core gives the ideal agent. Low Deep and high Core gives the honest novice. High Deep and low Core gives the biased expert. Low Deep and low Core gives epistemic delusion or collapse, depending on the case.
Concrete Example
Imagine two people evaluating a medical screening result. One does not understand false positives and therefore overreads the test. That is mainly a Deep Rationality failure. Another understands the statistics but treats the result as certain because fear has taken over. That is mainly a Core Rationality failure.
The same outward confidence can therefore come from different structures. The model earns its keep when it prevents the wrong repair: statistics for a fear problem, or courage-talk for a math problem.