How to read a Veritas confidence score

A confidence score in Veritas is not a vote on whether a claim is fashionable. It is a disciplined estimate, bounded by the claim's epistemic status, of how strongly the current evidence supports it.

The bands

• 0–20 — Unknown. We genuinely cannot favor any answer. This is grey, not red: not knowing is a state of the map, not an error.
• 0–40 — Speculation. Coherent, sometimes beautiful, but weakly constrained by evidence.
• 21–60 — Plausible. Consistent with what we know; rivals remain credible.
• 61–80 — Strong evidence. Multiple independent lines converge.
• 81–100 — Established. Reversal would be revolutionary.

Why every number has a rationale

The database refuses to record a confidence change without a written rationale, and it keeps every previous value forever. So a score is always accompanied by why, and you can watch it move over time on the Timeline of Understanding.

Notice that the deepest metaphysical hypotheses here sit low. That is honesty, not pessimism: we are charting how far from the shore each idea actually is.