What is true? How do you know? We’ve even been told there are “alternative facts”. It’s true we’ve been told that, but is it true that “alternative facts” are truth or even useful to determine truth? Is truth important to you? Does it matter to you whether it’s true, as long as it agrees with or reinforces your preconceived notions or beliefs? Do you take the time to examine claims made before you determine they’re truth? Do you *know* the complete story based on the facts presented, or do you need to determine “The Rest of The Story” (Paul Harvey?). Without the full facts, the rest of the facts, the surrounding circumstances, the full picture, the rest of the story… you don’t have the perspective to know the real truth. Seth Andrews below more fully describes several incidents (of course coffee is hot!) and explains this quite well in the 2018 Skeptics conference video.
As discussed in Seth’s video above, “we share because we care”. But how careful are we about what we share? There are some great examples in Seth’s video. But what about the DHMO controversy? How many made any effort a few years ago to warn of the dangers of this chemical compound? *** How about the mites on your face that could be somewhat indicative of your ethnic origins; did anyone realize they were even there? What should we do about that?
What about science? It is so difficult to wrap our little puny brains around the vast distances of space, many of our flat-earth believing friends make assumptions and base their arguments on science concepts they simply do not understand, or do not comprehend (or both). Joe Scott’s series Answers with Joe attempts to address many of these concepts in more understandable ways. For instance if we want to learn more about the makeup of the early universe, why don’t we just send New Horizons on out to the Oort cloud and do a bit of mining, testing, photographing and measuring there? It could answer so many questions (in about 300 years; that’s how long the one-way trip would take because it is so far away – about 50,000 AU away from earth, beginning just outside our little solar system). A great presentation on comets and the solar system in general in this post. Maybe it will help you answer and explain to the next flat earth believer or conspiracy theorist you run into.
It is up to each of us to become informed enough to make rational decisions. There is no excuse to remain ignorant of reality. We know there are deliberate “fake news” sites. As Seth points out in his post, our emotions can easily be manipulated with lighting and subject framing; print media has done this for years. Now in the digital age, it’s even easier — as Neil deGrasse Tyson said “there’s probably a UFO button in Photoshop by now”. Another video from Joe Scott is How Technology Destroyed the Truth on the implications of social media, 24hour news shows, and the free-wheeling spewing of opinions, informed and otherwise. Please, make the effort to be among the informed. Think, it applies in all aspects of life.
*** More importantly, How many made the effort to verify the story BEFORE sending the warning “to everyone you know”?
** This is a publicly visible posting from this site.
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