Need to Know

Maybe it's just me. Over the past year it seems as if every other day a new study reveals that something we regarded as healthy is likely to lead to our premature death and yet another thing we were told would send us to an early grave is the only thing keeping us alive. It's more than confusing, and it got me thinking about what we need to know, and what we should trust.

It should come as no surprise that a lot of what makes its way into print, gets covered by radio, TV or online news isn't based on fact or is greatly distorted. We live in a curious time. We are more cynical than ever about what we are told, while more willing to trust fiction over fact if it aligns with our political, religious or philosophic bent. This seems to be a contradiction but if you look beyond the obvious you'll find it isn't new at all.

For some time now we have been inundated with information. Even before Large Language Model AI came along, even before the Internet made access to information simple and abundant, information was the most sought after prize, the very essence of survival for our species. The need to know what the weather might be, where to fish or hunt, what plants were ok to eat and what weren't, what posed a threat and what didn't were critical pieces of information. We learned them by word of mouth, from teachers & mentors and from those we trusted. At the scale we lived those who shared vital information were known to us. In our clan, band, village, community, there was a good chance we were related or at least recognized. We did not question motives, or false flags, we were all in the same lifeboat.

As our species evolved and the spoken word began to take written form it assumed a new character, something we might call propaganda today. Archaeologists have transcribed Babylonian, Egyptian, Aramaic and other ancient written artifacts. Many are inventories, records, and factual accounts. But along the way the written word began to include what we might generously describe as stories. Not fictions necessarily but accounts that had an agenda; to bolster the deeds of an important figure, advance the beliefs of a religion or explain the known universe within the context of the science or beliefs of the time.

Gradually, first hand accounts by story tellers: poets, bards, and skalds became something less accurate and more mythic. This is not to suggest willful fabrication, but rather the inevitable evolution of the purpose behind story telling transitioning from information to a form of entertainment. There is abundant evidence that story tellers across different cultures exchanged their stock in trade, stories, one to one, and as time progressed in larger conclaves organized for just that purpose. Stories were retold, transplanted and altered to reflect different cultural norms and different characters, Gods, heroes, and men.

Story tellers became increasingly important even powerful figures. They were the newspaper, TV and Movies all rolled into one. Their stories could elevate a leader or deride him; fan the flames of enmity or inspire adulation and whether story tellers were merely burnishing their own reputation or working on behalf of others their stories drifted from factual to embellished to entirely fictional for patriotic or political reasons and sometimes simply for personal gain.

Given our hard wired, compelling need to know for survival and our vicarious desire for gossip, escape, and diversion--in short entertainment-- the melding of factual information with fiction was inevitable. Add to this constantly evolving knowledge as a result of scientific and technological development and we find ourselves in an era in which no fact or statement can be taken simply at face value. Nothing in short should be considered set in stone. No account, no historic fact,--even those events within living memory, and certainly no truth appears to be beyond manipulation or contradiction.

So, maybe it isn't just me. Maybe we have lost our ability to discern, to reason our way to the immutable. Or maybe we no longer care. Maybe, we no longer trust in anything, just accept what we pick and choose from among all the available narratives. As for me, I'm going to keep on ignoring those click bait headlines and keep on doing what I've always done, eating what I eat , drinking an occasional glass of wine, and voting for men and women of character and integrity. It doesn't always work out as I hoped, but I'm still here, that's my story and I'm sticking to it..