For the blockchain educated crowd it may be a little clearer the functional role of truth when I will refer to"the truth" as a substitute for a trusted third party.
Bitcoin is named a trustless system. The use of the term trustless in the bitcoin ecosystem captures the essence of truth as being entangled with the concept of trust. However trust in the bitcoin ecosystem is not directly associated with truth but rather the entity which define what is the history which the nodes will accept as true.
In fact bitcoin is not a trustless system but rather a decentralized system of trust. The trust is placed in the system's decentralization mechanism as a whole, which means that the truth is placed in that decentralized mechanism as well. Thus it is that truth setting mechanism which I will eventually want to activate as substitute for the linear logic driven truth in which only one truth and only the one truth that derived and agree with the history can be accepted as true.
As I will try to walk us through the philosophical and metaphysical part of that realization I will also follow through with the real developments of the most advanced attempt to create these ideas.
The Tauchain project in which I have been involved (not as a developer) right from the beginning may be the best example of these ideas being formed into the reality of our lives.
The project at its current state have gone past a most critical point for it to be realized and survive the difficulties of such profound attempted.
You can see the explanation given by the two main founders and developers of tauchin, Ohad Asor and HMC an explantion about the logic each convinesed should be used to create the tauchain .
Ohad Asor http://www.idni.org/blog/tau-and-the-crisis-of-truth
HMC comment https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=950309.msg16384133#msg16384133
Ohad Asor comment https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=950309.msg16393718#msg16393718
As part of the ideas I develop here then, let me paste a comment I made on the tauchain thread on bitcointalk dealing with the disagreement between the two and responding to this comment made by other investors :
"I guess we will wait and see if things come out as expected. Everyone should work out their difference, keep egos at check and focus on the project. [/quote]
+100 The above statement (the one above this) was very sad to read, clearly there are very few, very few people in this world, who have the ability to work on a project like this and to see a skilled team walk away, because the Dev seems to have a "my way or the highway" attitude, really sucks.One man can not complete this project. :-[ [/quote]
My comment to that was:
yes indeed there are very there are very few, very few people in this world, who have the ability to work on a project like this
In fact people who can realize such goal as the tau, theorized what it will take to build it, have the skills to develop the concrete blocks of building (mathematics and language) and the power to actualy build it, are even fewer. People like that lead, not work on such project. they actualy live that project, it is the one thing that matters for them more than anything else.They can not and will not give up their each personal convictions once they reach it unless[b] proven t[/b]o be wrong.
Now realize that any given proof about proper logic will be a mathematical proof only, unless build using it.
This is like the difference between a mathematical theory and a physics theory. In physics we say that a theory can only be proven by observation. So is in computers in some way. theory will be proven by it working! But unlike in physicists, rather than being a passive observer, the developer is an active creator. Ohad and HMC practicaly are building the universe in which we all going to live in And no one can do such and be trusted to do that for us unless will be entirely convinced that they are taking the best possible root to create that. It is not a matter of ego in the sense of pride, it is ego in the sense of the truth. The truth that for each and one of us is unique, The truth that make us individuals. Yet life found a way to make all these individual truths to agree on many partial truths in order to communicate and cooperate. Ohad and HMC are now trying to recreate that magic of decentralized cooperation. and they can only do it by being individuals in their believes while communicating and being public about their action. which both are.
They both are taking us on that path to create the tau which we all are allready an important part of it. We are now after the most devastating part of the development in which they each realize and crystallized their theoretical disagreements to the point of having to work on two different routs. yet eventually it will be clear to all which of the two will be the best manifestation of that common idea they share about the tau itself. and their vision of one stable rootchain will be realized too.