The Flexible Truth: Navigating a World of Deception and Interpretation
In this time of constant camera surveillance and a social media that promotes extraverted camera obsession, where narcissists are running rampant through every media outlet, and we are being told lie after lie so others can make a buck. I mean who hasn't heard of affiliate marketing where random people are paid to say something good about the worst products.
Navigating Through the Era of Fake News and Artificial Intelligence
Sadly in spite of all the visual “evidence” it's never been a more uncertain time. Ever since Trump opened our eyes to the possibility of “fake news” we are being sucked down a rabbit hole of uncertainty. And it doesn't end there, A.I. adds to this by providing filters that make you look stunning, deep fakes of celebrities are having sex and our search engines turned out to be woke. sadly enough his is not even the worst part of it. Even our people in power are openly lying to us, or framing opposition in such a way that we have no idea who is telling the truth and who is lying. For Instance look at the sheer volume of paperwork that is being released about the pandemic, reports that range from: "not very nice" to criminal negligence are surfacing and we have no idea if we can trust them. More and more groups claim to have a patent on the truth, and it is up to you to choose whom to believe. Currently, the battle seems to be mainly between the right and the left, both claiming to have the truth on their side. The difficult thing about the truth is that a large part of it is open to interpretation.
The Challenge of Determining the Truth
Recently, I read an article about someone who had pushed another person down the stairs. According to the article, it was clearly visible on the surveillance cameras. A clear story, you would say......... However, when I saw the footage, I saw a struggle near the stairs. The so-called pushing party struggled to free himself, and when he pulled away, the other person fell down the stairs. The pushing person appeared to give the falling person a pat on the back which could have been a push but looks more like him trying to grab the guy to maybe pull him back. In short, even with surveillance cameras, it is not always possible to determine exactly what happened. In this case, people have to form an opinion based on seemingly irrefutable evidence, but they still have to interpret that evidence. Personally I don't think this guy was pushed, however once it is decided he was pushed people are invested in this story, it is very difficult to change their minds. So the guy was deemed guilty.
The Conundrum of Sex: Lies, Data, and reality
A good example of this is sex. How often does the average person have sex per week? In the book "Everybody Lies," Seth Stephens-Davidowitz tried to answer this question. If we look at the data from the "General Social Survey," a database that is considered one of the most reliable when it comes to American behavior, the average woman claims to have sex about 55 times a year, and she uses a condom in 16% of cases. This amounts to approximately 1.1 billion condoms per year. However, heterosexual men claim to use 1.6 billion condoms per year. So who are they having sex with is the question? But to make this conundrum even more interesting…….. fewer than 600 million (0.6 billion) condoms are sold annually. People in a relationship or marriage claim to have sex about once a week. Interestingly, Google searches for sexless marriages are three times higher than for unhappy marriages and lets be honest, how often were you having sex after your relationship passed the 3rd year? In the case of sex it's kind of a disgrace if everyone is having sex and you might be the only one who isn't so it's easier to lie about it. And once invested in a lie, the average person is likely to stick to that story despite seemingly irrefutable evidence.
The Illusion of Objective Truth
Well you say what about science??? Richard Fineman put it very well when he said "Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts". Interpreting data will probably give you a more reliable opinion but in the end it is the person interpreting the data who is choosing the way he interprets it and communicates it, then there is the way the reader interprets it. You might be reading this article and have an entirely different conclusion than your neighbor who reads the same article. So in all honesty data presented as an irrefutable truth is usually an educated interpretation based on research.
The Elusive Nature of Truth
It is sometimes said that “a person is as reliable as the salary that depends on it ”. Meaning that people often have all kinds of loyalties and allegiances that are rarely aligned with telling you what they think the truth is. So there is interpretation, being stuck in a belief, fuzzy memories, omission for whatever reason and intender deception we have to get through before we start scratching the surface of the so-called truth……… if it’s at all out there.
The Paradox of Truth.
So, where does this leave us, and what is the truth? Personally, I find it difficult to remember events from the past truthfully. I often tell details about events from the past that I am not at all sure about any more, so if I do this; what can I expect from others? The truth, I'm afraid, is a flexible concept, subject to interpretation, intention, and deception. We will probably never know whether the man on the surveillance camera pushed the other man or tried to save him, and we will never know about his intentions. In fact, he probably doesn't even know himself.
