Head Heart Hands is my shorthand for three intertwined elements of Epistemic Governance:
A community is governing its knowing well when these three stay in conversation with each other, instead of one trying to run the show alone.
# Why This Matters Epistemic crises – misinformation, institutional distrust, governance deadlock – are often fights about which part of the triad gets to be “on top”: - Head says: “Trust the experts” - Heart says: “Trust the people” - Hands says: “Trust what works when we try it” Head Heart Hands is a reminder that durable epistemic governance isn’t about picking a winner. It’s about designing systems where: - experts are accountable and fallible - people are heard and can withdraw legitimacy
# The Triangle of Epistemic Governance The Head Heart Hands triangle is a way to design governance so that: - **Head** guards **validity** – “Is it true enough?” - **Heart** guards **legitimacy** – “Is it fair and meaningful?” - **Hands** guards **workability** – “Does it actually function?” Healthy Epistemic Governance keeps a rotating conversation: - Head updates its models from what Hands learns in practice - Heart updates its values from stories and impacts discovered by Hands - Hands updates its habits from norms and constraints negotiated by Head and Heart When all three are in play, the system can adapt without losing its soul.
# Typical Failure Modes Some common traps, framed with the triad: - **Head over Heart and Hands** “If the model says it’s fine, it’s fine.” People feel alienated, and implementation quietly diverges from the plan. - **Heart over Head and Hands** “If it feels right, it is right.” Hard tradeoffs get dodged, and reality eventually bites. - **Hands over Head and Heart** “If it ships, it’s good.” Short-term hacks pile up, values erode, and nobody remembers why the system exists. - **Fragmentation** Head, Heart, and Hands get split into separate silos – researchers, community, implementers – with no real cross-talk. The system drifts, and nobody can see the whole pattern.
# Design Patterns Using Head Heart Hands Some simple patterns for epistemic governance design:
# Head Heart Hands in Practice In a small project or community, you might: - Use simple Sensemaking Sessions for Head: shared maps, assumptions, and predictions - Host Story Circles for Heart: people narrate how decisions land in their lives - Run Safe-to-Fail Experiments for Hands: small, reversible trials with explicit learning goals
Over time, you can document patterns as: - Head: “How we check if something is true enough to act on” - Heart: “How we check if something is legitimate enough to accept” - Hands: “How we check if something is practical enough to maintain”
That documentation becomes living epistemic infrastructure, not just a dusty governance charter.