Veracity

by Douglas E. Richards

First, people are born to worry. That’s how we made it to the top of the food chain. Constant anxiety is the curse that comes with consciousness, with sentience. We’re the only species smart enough to fear not only actual, present threats, but also a myriad of imagined threats. Worse, we’re the only species burdened with the knowledge of our own mortality. And this makes us the most neurotic animal on Earth.”

If we’re totally focused on something we enjoy, living in the moment, like every other animal in the animal kingdom, we’re alive, electric—and happy. Especially if we’re challenging ourselves, overcoming obstacles, improving, achieving.”

“We tend to think of evolution as only shaping us physically,” said Elias, “but much of our psychology and our behaviors have also been shaped by this force. We evolved to pay attention to bad news over good, and to always fear the worst—for good reason. Good news is nice. Bad news can threaten our lives.”

Because the people who deliver the news know that the more overblown and dramatic the headline, the more alarming or contentious, the more clicks and eyeballs it will attract. I’m sure you’ve heard the expression, ‘if it bleeds—it leads.’ The news now provides a nonstop barrage of fear, despair, and distrust of other groups. And while these headlines are all irresistible to our primitive psyches, they steadily eat away at our souls, promoting divisiveness and pessimism.”

“People have an innate tendency to almost instantly form discrete groups. And almost instantly become biased against anyone in a different group.”

“The worst part about it,” said Elias, “is that this tendency causes us to impugn the motives of the other side. We know we’re acting in good faith, but assume the other side is acting in bad faith. We know that our motivations are noble and pure, but suspect those of the other side are dubious, corrupt, or self-interested. Makes it impossible to have a reasoned discussion.” “Seems so incredibly bleak,” said Connor. “I know your point is that things aren’t bleak. But human nature itself seems to be our worst enemy.” Elias sighed. “Sadly, this is true. Any number of behaviors that once helped us survive are now working against us. I’ll just throw out one more. Confirmation bias. This is our tendency to seek out information that supports and reinforces our beliefs, and ignore or discount any information that is contrary to them. So we stick to our guns, even against overwhelming evidence that we’re wrong.”

There’s an old saying, ‘the man with two watches never knows what time it is.’ Well, now we have a thousand different watches, all reading a different time.” He shook his head in disgust. “So the old saying now becomes, ‘the man with a thousand media outlets, each providing its own, differing spin on the news, never knows what’s true.’”

“And social media makes this worse, doesn’t it?” said Paige. “Much worse. Because it provides a bubble, an echo chamber. And it provides distance and anonymity, so people can be as vicious as they want, and never have to look their opponent in the eye. They never see them as loving parents or thoughtful neighbors, just as unseen members of a nebulous other.”

Veracity indicated this was true, and Connor fought off a smile. A true statement, but it also didn’t answer his question. Lying might not be possible in a Veracity-enabled world, but artful evasion of the truth apparently still was.

And only a saint would believe we can survive a world without lies of any kind.”

I had often fantasized about being the only person in the world who could lie. Can you imagine? Talk about power. You know the old expression, in the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. Well, in the world of no lies, the liar is king. The liar is all but omnipotent.”

“Shared belief in an absurdity is a much better indicator of loyalty than shared belief in the truth. And it’s a much better way to create group cohesion. If a leader asks you to believe that the sky is blue, and you do, what does that prove? The truth is easy. But if he requires his followers to believe the sky is green, they quickly distance themselves from non-believers and become firmly united in a shared delusion.”