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.