The Self-Referencing Institute solves disagreements about value. Value is important because it tells us what's valuable. There's only so much time in the day, so we need to know what to study. We can't put every object ever made in a museum, and we can't put every book ever written in a library. The point of institutions is to separate value from everything else, so we know what's worth our attention.

Universities debate which experts to study, and how much time to spend on each expert. The lack of consensus causes students to question whether value exists. Since the authorities on the subject are unsure about what has value, it's reasonable to conclude that value isn't that insignificant. Students aren't motivated to put in the effort because why bother. Why get better at something if it's unclear whether it's "better".

Good scholarship answers questions of value. References check with other references to create a self-referencing system that is statistically impossible as a coincidence. It proves that experts exist, and that they are distinct from non-experts. It reassures students that they aren't the same as experts, which motivates them to become experts.

—Alex Sabo

Ability recognizes ability because it's the same thing, so it recognizes itself. It knows what to look for in others because it has already achieved it in itself. People of average ability have a vague sense of better and worse, but they can't rank others.

Experts correctly predict scholarship because there is no one above them that might have something they're missing that they haven't considered. They know the rankings before seeing them, which is impressive in itself. We can cross-reference rankings with traditional hallmarks of talent to provide additional checks.