In this age of the Unreliable Internet, all kinds of marvelous or troubling things pop up every day. They reveal stunning new facts, repressed cures, a hundred conspiracies all around us, as well as thoughtful quotes that are completely misattributed, or 100% fake. In such a sea of information full of truths, half-truths, white lies, hoaxes, fabrications, and other whoppers, it can be hard to know whats really what. Even skepticism itself has become an unfortunate vector for trollish behavior, especially when it is employed for its own sake. This is when we need something like Carl Sagans Baloney Detection Kit, which I first came across in The Demon-Haunted World. In it, he warned of the human propensity for self-deception, which has only grown as information has begun to flow more freely, with too few gatekeepers or critical eyes to filter out the junk. Its up to us to sort out the real from the fake. Unfortunately, were not so good at it. Its all too easy to be duped, by stories like the one thats gone around this week about the supposed number of unsold cars being stored on parking lots around the world. If were being taken in by something as trivial as that, what else are we falling for? Yet as bad as it has gotten, there is a silver lining. We can use this moment as an opportunity to train ourselves (and train each other) to sniff out the baloney were being fed, without at the same time succumbing to trollish skepticism. So before you get bit again, I recommend you familiarize yourself with the BDK. I believe youll thank Mr. Sagan for it, and the world will be a better, clearer place. But dont just take my word for it...
Posted on: Mon, 19 May 2014 20:52:30 +0000
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