Things You Can think: A Primer for Assessing Truth

Modern computing, telecommunications, and search engine technologies have made information both easily and instantaneously available. As a result, people often lose sight of the need to critically review, scrutinize, and verify the truth of the information they receive using them. Paradoxically, it is precisely because of these and other technological advancements that it has become increasingly necessary to determine the veracity of the information we receive.

These newly emergent technologies have created a perfect storm: They are being used to selectively deliver cleverly chosen fragments of information to varied target audiences with enormous precision. This has created a highly orchestrated barrage of factual information combined with partial truths and veiled propaganda that now circulates and proliferates through a variety of Internet-based channels with near-miraculous efficiency. All too often, truth is now equated with how many people believe something rather than with the more fundamental principles that underlie what truth really is. This has made the difference between the truth and falsehoods progressively more difficult for ordinary people to tease out, disentangle, and recognize.

Accordingly, individuals must now equip themselves with their own approaches to assess the truth of the information they receive. To do this successfully, they must return to basics to effectively scrutinize what information is credible and what is not-and why. Hence, there is a need to highlight what truth is, what it means, and how ordinary people can assess it in their everyday lives. This is crucial undertaking if we are to be able to assess the information that underpins our thoughts, knowledge, understandings, and beliefs.

Happily, there is a path to prevail: Truth always depends on two fundamental precepts-facts and their context. This book explains how you can sort through the overwhelming volume of information we are all faced with to reject falsehoods and misrepresentations and uncover truth together with its meaning, value, and utility.