How to establish truth in today's world.

It should come as no surprise that political actions in our world aren't always dictated by well-tested studies and validated results. Think of scientific studies being discarded and defunded by a large economic power for being misaligned with the views of those in power. Regimes even being able to capture another country's president and claiming to reign over said country themselves. And AI images and videos being created about events in the world so realistically that viewers no longer know whether the events actually happened.

With geopolitics intensifying, it is more important than ever to figure out what is true and false. Let's not pick sides—let's just figure out how to figure out what is actually true.

Why does the truth no longer seem to matter?

Not too long ago, people went fact-checking whenever someone in power claimed something that sounded too good to be true. When they found false claims, they would share their findings online and the world would go crazy—"how ever could someone so high up make such grave mistakes?". Controversies had the power to dethrone those in power.

These days, however, these effects seem to have vanished. What happened?

Problems start to arise when people in power no longer face negative consequences for the things they do. Claiming falsities as true in order to push your own agenda onto the world, and not being held back by repercussions, means that this now becomes the easiest way to get it your way (disregarding morality). And when your country is already divided into two polar opposites—left and right—we humans, as social creatures, will start to view the world as "us versus them". "It would be crazy to think that our president, that we elected from our party, would do something to harm us, right? It must be our polar opposites who are wrong. They've been against our president since the beginning".

Some may call it brainwashing; psychological manipulation via social groups, be it in real life (e.g. our tendency to agree with people close to us), or simply via social media online (algorithms showing you only one side of the coin). Perhaps. But I like to look at it more optimistically. Most people themselves aren't inherently doing anything wrong. They are simply being governed by a lack of clear, truthful information. When it's "us vs. them", and both parties scream at each other to argue what is actually true, most people will just let it be. The majority of people do not care much about politics—they care about working, to make money, to support their families and hopefully finance their personal dreams. There is no time and energy left in the day, for most people, to be bothered figuring out the absolute truth, what would be best for themselves, their country, their world.

Can we make finding a clear truth, for anything that is shared, simpler for the majority of people?

How do we fix this?

I'll say this: education is the single most important factor to foster critical thinking. Not only that, education also helps people learn about themselves and the world around them. It helps spot fallacies in people's behaviour, which in turn leads to better understanding of one another. It leads to harmony. Don't we all wish we could live happily together?

Not only that, education in its core helps prepare for the job market. The more you are educated, the more opportunities you'll have finding work you enjoy and which pays well, which leaves you and your family in a state of higher happiness and success.

Let us never cut down on education.

Let us educate people around us, preferably outside our own social bubble, on the importance of education. It is all about investing in current and future generations. After all, a society grows great when its people plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.

How will I know what's real, these days?

For every news outlet and social media channel you follow (including this blog you're reading right now), make sure you check how truthful the authors appear. Go out of your way to figure out the general consensus of the channel: are they providing information on only a narrow scope of the problem, or are they talking about every aspect of it? Are you hearing both sides? Because you always should. Let's not fall into the "us vs. them" paradigm ourselves.

Most importantly, beware of the confirmation bias as you're doing this. You should always remain open-minded enough to consider conflicting opinions, especially when they conflict with your own preconceived notions.

Do not put too much value into online comments either; people online can claim anything, and more often than you are probably aware, you are reading a comment written by an automated bot instead of a living being. Don't forget how ChatGPT already passed the Turing Test; based on a single arbitrary comment online, you can no longer be sure whether it's human- or AI-written.

Continuing this, given the recent developments in the field of AI, unfortunately, you can also no longer take video or photo evidence as proof that something happened. Even if videos may contain slight oddities in the background, most people don't notice. They will have already shared it if it conforms to their opinion: "see now? I told you so!". People tend to react quicker emotionally than considering things factually.

Fact-checking is also slower than fact-sharing, and often also less interesting for the general public. After all, what would you rather view tired on a monday evening: a video of a cat hanging from a chandelier, or a video explaining why said video is fake? As such, you cannot assume that only truthful facts will be shared on your channels. That's why it's so important to figure out how reputable the channels you follow are. If there is lots of critique on a channel you love, it's safe to say it warrants a double-check to make sure you're not falling to confirmation bias—and that's okay, because we all do.

Appendix: reflections on this article

I wish I could give a one-size-fits-all solution to make the world a better place: to let truth and reason become more of a driving force for change; to make scientific findings indisputable—unless counter-argued with new studies. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. Education and critical thinking are, in my opinion, crucial to improve the world we live in by and for its citizens. However, who's to say I am right?

This is a topic that even a single book would be too small for. I've only briefly touched on fundamental issues of geopolitics. We can't easily claim, scientifically, what would be the best way to move forward to make the world the best it can be for everyone. There exist countries, with borders, with wildly different cultures, different ethical and moral views. All I know for sure, is that the world would become a better place if we take a look at our neighbours and make it better for them. An eye for an eye may blind the world, but a helping hand for a hand would certainly provide more harmony. By default, let's give each other the benefit of the doubt. There should be no "us versus them" in the world. We are, after all, all human.