Artificial Wisdom

by Thomas R. Weaver

That was the thing about the truth. Sometimes, you were judged more harshly for revealing it than for concealing it.

“The responsibility lies with those who did the deed and those who prop them up, not the ones exposing it.”

Maybe once upon a time, America would have clearly led the pack, but it’d squandered that leadership over many decades as the country itself had become more polarized and elected more extreme leaders on both ends of the spectrum.

That was the thing about the truth; it only came out when the cost of lying became too high.

“Tully would say that was the thing about truth: it’s always meant to be found,”

But that was the thing about truth, once you’d set it free, you had to let it go. Whatever happened, happened, and it was just the price you had to pay.

“You can’t convince those who don’t want to be convinced. They’ll see what they want to see, hear what they want to hear, and studiously avoid anything that challenges their ‘truth’. I know what’s right and what’s wrong.”

That, of course, was the thing about truth. Those who hid it always believed it was colored in shades of grey, those who revealed it always saw the black and white.

We should be putting the resources into turning around the current situation instead of creating safe bubbles from which the rich can watch the poor die.”

The truth is not a luxury. It’s not disposable. It’s the bedrock of a civilized society.”

I will feel grief every moment of every day for the rest of my existence.

People seem to live in both the past and in the future, two big overlapping circles, but rarely focus on the intersection and enjoy the moments given to them right now.”

Humanity needs something radical to save them, Solomon had said. There are going to be tough choices … Doing the right thing must override how I will be viewed doing it.

“You know, when I was twelve, I decided to be a vegetarian. I had a friend who kept chickens. Rocket, one of them was called. I couldn’t stand the idea of eating Rocket. So I told my dad, who did all the cooking in the family. He said that chickens would have become extinct if humanity hadn’t chosen them as a food source. I said it would be better to be extinct than to become a slave to another species.”

This would be a new beginning. Or was it a new end?