Thanks to u/v8power for the excellent suggestion!
It's a tricky topic!
This is 1 of 2 round tables this time, due to a tie.
Thanks to everyone who made suggestions or voted!
Thanks to u/v8power for the excellent suggestion!
It's a tricky topic!
This is 1 of 2 round tables this time, due to a tie.
Thanks to everyone who made suggestions or voted!
You can’t be reasonably sure. But what you can know is that if information is being promoted, that information means something to somebody. I
But is this information symbolic? Is it to be taken at face value? Is it false? Is it true? Can you unlock its meaning?
Example. Tom Brady goes to White House… tells Biden 40% of people don’t think they won but they did!
Why is he there? Who does Tom represent? Why report on this specific quote? Why does this get coverage? Why is this news to the public?
This is information. It is being promoted. But what does it mean? Did it even happen? How can I know? Some news article said. Maybe someone was there to verify that quote was said. But I don’t know who picked that quote to be put in the article or why a news story was created around it. But someone does. Someone can interpret that info. And it means something to them and it means next to nothing to everybody else.
And if scientific studies are funded by government, by big businesses, can we trust “science”? We try to verify the sources the “information” presents. What if it’s a perfectly sound logical argument built on a false premise or base? It will check out unless you question the premise. And if you can’t question it you might believe something entirely false.
Honestly if you want to push a false narrative, you probably would want to make sure it reasonably checks out. Poorly crafted studies are made and science papers are written and pushed. But really, did you verify the study was done? Were you there? Did you call to confirm finding with any of the authors? Aside from that, did you scour the study to make sure it was sent up in an unbiased manner? Are you able to access the raw data that they used to draft up their charts and tables or are you just trusting them to present it fairly?
But evil and deception out there can’t possibly control everyone so some truth must come through. You can’t discredit and discount everything. But you do need to know who is sending the info? Who is funding it? Who is meant to receive the info? Is there a possible double meaning?
It’s a big club and you ain’t in it. You don’t speak the language. Information is being sent and it looks absolutely ridiculous and stupid to most people but if you speak the language you understand.
If you want to trust a source you have to know the source and be familiar with the topic enough to decide for yourself. And then not be married to that outcome if more information comes along to add to your understanding.
Really like this part:
The meta-focus on intent of author and publisher.
Sometimes, I don't trust things I tell myself, about myself. Lol. I'm my own source, that presumably I know very well, and we're talking about something near and dear to both of us, us! Me! Example: I probably think I'm a better person than I really "am". Or maybe worse? That an event happened a certain way, years, minutes or seconds ago.
Especially when thinking of intent, this seems to happen more often.
Whether a door slammed in another room, or was it a book dropping?
The closer we get to a physical event the more probable, it seems to me, that I can trust my eyes, ears, etc. Memory is another matter! Esp as I age! Ha ha!
There's an author, Robert Anton Wilson, have you heard of him? Housewife, lemme tell ya, he goes off on this topic! "Quantum Psychology", especially, delves into e-prime, quantum theory, shhht, I don't even remember all the topics. Mr. Wilson has a very non-traditional way of approaching the subject, lets say. I'll be generous and say that it seems very relaxed and informal ...while still getting into the nuts and bolts of epistemology.
Excerpt about e-prime: http://rawilson.com/quantum-psychology/
An intersection of semantics, physics and epistemology. With practical applications thrown in. And Bob's ....unique approach.
Love it and have been a fan for about 20 years. Lol.