Some comments about 'truth'
17 Apr 2025
*Before the printing press and the Enlightenment Age, TRUTH was what the secular and religious leaders said it was. Full. Stop. (Sometimes the secular and religious leaders were the same, but not always, and then it could get messy.)
*The printing press marked the beginning of an era when the general population had to start deciding what was and wasn't true. Unfortunately, humans do not have a sense organ for truth in the same way they have one for temperature or hunger or pain. Being right and being wrong feel exactly the same - we are only uncomfortable or ashamed or embarassed when (if) we *learn* that we are wrong.
*Over time, philosophy, literature, art, music mathematics, logic and other disciplines tried to determine the nature of TRUTH. In fits and starts. The scientific method is a pretty recent and important development on this journey - and is not built into human wiring the way wallking and talking are. (As someone who spent decades teaching medical students and residents, I can tell you that teaching humans to properly use the scientific method is challenging.)
*A series of media/communication technologies have iteratively changed the way TRUTH is determined and experienced: local and then large newspapers, telegraph, radio, TV, mass market TV, and now the internet. Each of these made it easier, faster, and cheaper for individuals to 'publish' a perspective and claim it is the TRUTH.
*One result of this technological evolution is that the paradigm of vetting information before it is disseminated has been replaced by a paradigm where each individual recipient is responsible for vetting the tsunami of information available.
*As a species, we are not equipped to determine truth. Our wiring is designed to get us from Monday to Tuesday and doesn't really care what is true - only what is useful for survival.
*The first step might be to evolve a culture where people care about truth. We don't seem to be moving in that direction at the moment...
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