EF22 SHOW NOTES
Looking to play or download the episode? Click here… EF22 (AMA-EF5): Defeating Fake News and Critical Thinking as the Superpower the World Needs Most — Ask Me Anything of Episode EF5
Episode EF22 Summary
Spoiler alert: You’re about to listen to a Ask Me Anything (AMA) of Episode EF5, which was Season 1, Episode 3 of the Evolve Faster Podcast titled The Truth is Clay in the Hands of a Sculptor. The driving question of this episode (and this AMA) for you to think through is … what is the truth?!
As a reminder about Episode EF5: Truman, an ordinary man with a regular job, is caught lying in a country where lying is illegal. Thanks to his actions, he ends up facing a mandatory Truth Course to get him back on the track. Terrified, Truman slowly realizes the truth is not what we all grew accustomed to believe. Is it possible that truth is nothing more than a piece of clay molded by someone’s interests? Time is running out for Truman, and the sculptor of truth might just hold the power to mold his future.
The third episode of the first season of the Evolve Faster Podcast Episode is driven by the big question What Is The Truth? In the age of the Internet, we can no longer ignore our critical thinking skills. Without it, we can easily fall in a deep pit that keeps getting darker and darker.
To peek behind the curtain of Episode 5, we’ll dissect the following submitted questions:
- Do you think copywriting is really lying?
- Do people really not even listen to stuff if it’s not sensational anymore?
- Can anyone really know the truth now that the info volumes are so high? How can anyone be informed enough?
- Is the fundamental truth actually correct?
- So is the categorical imperative the best definition of the truth? Is there a list of some good categorical imperative examples I can use in everyday life?
- How does one brave enough to take actions?
- Why can’t we just agree not to lie? Why do we need rules to form the truth for us?
- Is the country based on any country or movement that tried this about lying?
- That scene from the matrix? Huh?
- Cold you really outlaw lying?
- Is lying really bad?
- Why is it that people attach famous people onto their narratives like happens to George?
- And more…
dedication
DEDICATION: Episode EF5 is dedicated to Ai Weiwei, a Chinese contemporary artist who successfully brings his work way outside the barriers of art. Through the mysterious “lies” of artistic creativity, he provides light on the truth around him. Weiwei is in constant feud with the Chinese government, actively opposing their stance on democracy and human rights. Supposedly, people can’t type his name in Chinese-domestic web search.
Weiwei is a true dissident in his own country thanks to the perpetual battle with the authorities. But instead of silencing him, Weiwei’s influence is steadily growing despite the constant lock-ups and beatdowns. For the last 30 years, Weiwei creates art to keep the real truth alive – the one that helps humanity, instead of destroying it.
Weiwei is a master at transforming difficult ideas into obvious truths using only a few words. Mainly active through social media, Weiwei’s innovative usage of social tools is almost ironic considering the political limitations. Besides through art, in 2016, Weiwei took his activism online with social commentaries and essays for three straight years. Unsurprisingly, his voice became even louder and his reputation even more notorious.
It seems that instead of truth, honesty is what the World needs, and Weiwei has more than enough of that rare resource. Although our world is far from an Orwellian or Huxleyan dystopia, it is cruel and often silences words everyone needs to hear. Especially in the world where the ones with power regularly stomp the weak.
HOW AI WEIWEI INSPIRES EF5
In Episode EF5, the hidden protagonist discovers that truth, personal opinion
To follow up on Weiwei’s life and work, I highly suggest you check out links below:
inspirations
INSPIRATIONS: Joseph Heller, a novelist most famous for his novel Catch-22 and revealing that absurd and contradictory life situations are more than common. George Orwell, a writer who made every future dystopian writer’s job extremely hard. Franz Kafka, a writer who destroyed his fascinating work in scorching flame and was plagued by flames of existential truth. Immanuel Kant, a philosopher who tried to simplify and help us with the existential mess by creating the Categorical Imperative. Episode EF5 was further inspired by David Hume, William James, The Truman Show, Jack Smart, The Matrix. For a full list of data and references please see Episode EF5 Show Notes.
Episode EF5 Summary
Truman, an ordinary man with a regular job, is caught lying in a country where lying is illegal. Thanks to his actions, he ends up facing a mandatory Truth Course to get him back on the track. Terrified, Truman slowly realizes the truth is not what we all grew accustomed to believe. Is it possible that facts are nothing more than a piece of clay molded by someone’s interests? Time is running out for Truman, and the sculptor of truth might hold the power to mold his future.
To try and understand the truth and if it exists at all, we’ll look at correspondence theory, coherence theory, pragmatism and the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. Each argument will give us a unique approach to just what the truth might be. But if there can only be one true fact, which one is correct? The one molded by your hands, or someone else’s hands? And if forced to face an absolute truth, would you be able to accept all its consequences?
references
Alexander Nazaryan, YOU’RE 100 PERCENT WRONG ABOUT CRITICAL THINKING, www.newsweek.com. https://www.newsweek.com/youre-100-percent-wrong-about-critical-thinking-362334 (Accessed: Feb 13, 2019).
Statistics & Facts about Fake News, www.statista.com. https://www.statista.com/topics/3251/fake-news/ (Accessed: Feb 13, 2019).
episode quotes
Any of these quotes make you think? If so, please support the show by sharing…
It’s much easier to identify something as false than to confirm it to be true.
Who’s whispering in your ear, your ego or your conscience? Can you tell the difference?
The truth can be painful but a lie has broader consequences.
To think critically is to have the skeptical rigor of a professional fact checker but be open-minded to any possibility.
Season One: The journey begins as we embark on 11 episodes on big questions relating to MIND. What is the truth? Can we trust reason? Why do we have emotions? Does happiness define the good? What is identity? What is creativity?
(EF1) Trailer: The Evolve Faster Podcast (Extended) Trailer
(EF2) Intro: Life is a Near Death Experience: Welcome to The Evolve Faster Podcast
(EF3) S1-E1: All Aboard the Experience Machine: Destination…Unknown (Season One, Episode One)
(EF4) S1-E2: The Decapitation of Reason: A Skeptic’s Guide (Season One, Episode Two)
(EF5) S1-E3: The Truth is Clay in the Hands of a Sculptor (Season One, Episode Three)
(EF6) S1-E4: Information Mainlining and the Folly of Modern Wisdom (Season One, Episode Four)
(EF7) S1-E5: Sleight of Mind: The Black Magic of Rhetoric (Season One, Episode Five)
(EF8) S1-E6: Without a Compass: All Who Sail the Seas of Identity Are Not Lost (Season One, Episode Six)
(EF9) S1-E7: I Feel Therefore I am: Capsized by the River Emotion (Season One, Episode Seven)
(EF10) S1-E8: The Road to Happiness is Inked in Suffering (Season One, Episode Eight)
(EF11) S1-E9: When the Lights Go Out: The Blinding Light of an Artificial Future (Season One, Episode Nine)
(EF12) S1-E10: Wired to Fail: Leveling Up in the Game of Life (Season One, Episode Ten)
(EF13) S1-E11: The Bloody Fingerprint of Creativity (Season One, Episode Eleven)
(EF14) BTP: Behind the Evolve Faster Podcast - The Making of a Speculative Fiction Meets Philosophical Nonfiction Podcast
(EF15) AMA: Ask Me Anything: About Scott Ely and Evolving a Philosophy for Life
(EF16) BTP: On Creative Writing, Video Games and the Future of the Evolve Faster Podcast (About Antonio Rozich)
(EF17) BTP-EF3: What Am I Supposed To Do Free Will and Other Everyday Problems Behind the Podcast of Episode EF3
(EF18) AMA-EF3: The Mystical Allure of Converting to Buddhism and Speculating about Quantum Mechanics Ask Me Anything for Episode EF3
(EF19) BTP-EF4: Head Transplantation and Finding Inspiration for Speculative Fiction - Behind the Podcast of Episode EF4
(EF20) AMA-EF4: The Declining Value of Information and Taking Risks to Determine What is the Truth Ask Me Anything of Episode EF4
(EF21) BTP-EF5: Should Lying be Made Illegal and the Importance of Figuring Out Why You Believe What you Believe --Behind the Podcast of Episode EF5
(EF22) AMA-EF5: Defeating Fake News and Critical Thinking as the Superpower the World Needs Most Ask Me Anything of Episode EF5
(EF23) BTP-EF6: Scaling Mount Wisdom Without Suffocating Under an Avalanche of Ego Behind The Podcast of Episode EF6
(EF24) AMA-EF6: Is Less Really More When it Comes to the Pursuit of Wisdom or is Ignorance Bliss - Ask Me Anything of Episode EF6
(EF25) BTP-EF7: The Power of Propaganda and Rhetoric to Divide Us and the Quest for a Better World - Behind the Podcast of Episode EF7
(EF26) AMA-EF7: The Impossibility of Honest Politicians and Protecting Our Kids from The Most Insidious Fake News Ask Me Anything for Episode EF3
(EF27) BTP-EF8: Who are You and is it Possible to Upgrade Your Identity as an Adult? - Behind the Podcast of Episode EF8
(EF28) AMA-EF8: Drugs, Consciousness Manipulation and Cheating Your Way To a Better You - Ask Me Anything for Episode EF8
(EF29) BTP-EF9: Waging War Between Reason and Emotions and the Importance of Leaving Things Unresolved Behind the Podcast of Episode EF9
(EF30) AMA-EF9: Emotional Manipulation Tribalism and Using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to Think Before you Feel - Ask Me Anything for Episode EF9
(EF31) BTP-EF10: Dharma Modifying Negative Thinking and the Never-Ending Pursuit of Happiness by Embracing Suffering - Behind the Podcast of Episode EF10
(EF32) AMA-EF10: Mind Control Through a Well Chosen Tattoo and the Unlikely Case of Being Happy Enough - Ask Me Anything for Episode EF3
(EF33) BTP-EF11: The Evolution of Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Creativity - Behind the Podcast of Episode EF11
(EF34) AMA-EF11: On Perfection, the AI Alignment Problem, and the Possibility of Quantum Leaps of Creativity - Ask Me Anything for Episode EF11
(EF35) BTP-EF12: Cryptocurrencies Gaming and Leveraging Failure to Help Us Define Who We Are - Behind the Podcast of Episode EF12
(EF36) AMA-EF12: Pyrrhic Victory and Finding the 10% of Your Mind that Defines Who You Are - Ask Me Anything for Episode EF12
(EF37) BTP-EF13: Where Creativity Comes From and How to Find Your Uniquely Bloody Fingerprint - Behind the Podcast of Episode EF13
(EF38) AMA-EF13: Flow, Creative Improvisation and Other Altered States of Consciousness Ask Me Anything for Episode EF13
(EF39) S2-E0: LIFE, UPGRADED: Welcome to Season Two of the Evolve Faster Podcast
(EF40) S2-E1: Dehumanized: The Search for Self in the Devil’s Looking Glass
(EF41) S2-E2: Transhuman Fallibility: The Existential Risk of a Superhuman Future
(EF42) S2-E3: Civil Individualism: Loneliness Atop Mount Empowerment
(EF43) S2-E4: Evil Urges: The Fiery Duality of Human Nature
(EF44) S2-E5: Reality Unchained: Smashing the Icons of Social Delusion
(EF45) S2-E6: Weaving Society’s Web: Purpose in a Future Without Work
(EF46) S2-E7: Empathetic Distortion: Rigging the Scales of Justice
(EF47) S2-E8: Infinite Regress: Drawing Back The Veil of Perception
(EF48) S2-E9: Checkmate: A Child’s Guide to the Good Life
(EF49) S2-E10: The Domino Effect: The Momentum of an Unstoppable Future