Who can we believe?

Who can we believe?

Who can we believe?

In this internet age we are awash with facts. We are flooded with information and disinformation. We have to identify trusted sources and learn to have a reliable gut!

It helps if we can put the new information in a structure that we know, or we think we know is true. This sometimes does not help. There are those among us that deliberately spread plausible but false information.

Anyway, this problem has always been known about. The book I am reading by John Michell, published in 1975 ( pre internet ) states the dilemma beautifully.

“ Scientific facts emerge in the first instance as revelations from the unconscious mind.

When these revelations can be shown to be in accord with what already has been established, they are accepted. When they stand alone they tend to be dismissed as fantasies, even though to certain people they are more real than the system that they appear to contradict.”

So who do we believe? The status quo? Or the people who really have insight to what is going on, even if it does not align with the quo? But how can we tell them apart from the people that mislead us? Tricky..

What do you think?