[Neurons] 2022 Neurons #17 A TRUTH MINISTERY? YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING!

[Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall

2022 Neurons #17

May 2, 2022

Distinctions #16

 

A TRUTH MINISTRY?

YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING!

 

If there ever was a bad idea, a really bad idea, it is the idea that the
Biden White House is now proposing, a Dis-information Bureau.  If that comes
to pass, then I will recognize George Orwell as one of the great prophets of
our time- 1984 has become a reality. 

 

Last year I wrote In a series of articles on facts.  The fact about facts is
that even defining a fact, let alone identifying true facts, is a very
challenging task!  All of science is dedicated to that and the fact is that
facts keep changing.  We all know about facts in medicine that keep
changing, facts about how to eat healthily seem to change almost weekly, but
even facts in physics change.  There were major paradigm shifts in physics
in the last century.  And as noted in the series on facts, there are all
kinds of facts-empirical, social, psychological, mathematical, historical,
political, etc.   And there are multiple levels of facts.  Furthermore,
after you have a fact, you still have to interpret the fact.  You have to
answer the question, "What does this particular fact mean?" [The
Neuro-Semantics of Facts is on the Gift section of
<http://www.neurosemantics.com/>
http://www.neurosemantics.com/www.neurosemantics.com]

 

So for someone, anyone, to think they have a monopoly on facts or truth is
the height of arrogance as well as stupidity.   Stupidity because they don't
know or have forgotten that "the map is not the territory."  They don't
know, have forgotten, or were never taught that truth is about statements.
When it comes to something be "true or false," we are talking about a
statement that is asserting something.  If I say, "It is raining." that
statement is either true or false or partly true and/or partly false.

 

When we engage in the most fundamental human activity-searching for truth-
we are looking for a construct about our understanding of something.  We are
searching for statements that are true and that we can count on.  A
statement is true when it asserts something, an understanding about what
something is, how it works, its value, etc.  When we test it, assess it,
then we can find out if it is valid or not in a given context.

 

Truth is not a thing and therefore nobody "has" it.  Truth is a concept, a
construct about the validity of a mental map.  So the very idea of having a
Truth Ministry, a Dis-Information Board, assumes that someone, or some group
of people, absolutely know the truth and can tell us The Truth.
Consequently, that puts an end to the adventure of search for the truth.
Now I no longer need to keep my mind open or ask challenging questions, I
just check in with the Dis-Information Department of Political Correctness
to find out The Truth.  And they will also prevent open discussion or any
and every argument that may not be the majority opinion.  They will
"protect" the rest of us from even being exposed to something they consider
not to be The Truth (as if we needed protected).

 

Searching for the truth- debating, questioning, testing, reformulating,
collaborating with people with different points of view, learning about our
epistemologies (meta-epistemology), learning about the way we learn and
reason (meta-learning), etc.-all of that is very different from absolutely
knowing and having The Truth.  Here is an important, nay a critical
distinction, the ideal of truth and the claim of possessing The Truth.

 

I would have thought that we as a human race would have gotten over this
after the Dark Ages.  That's when inquisitions were invented to torture
anyone who did not agree with the politically correct Truth of the time.  If
not then, then maybe during World War II when dictators arose in so many
countries claiming to have the final truth.  But here we are again.  Now Joe
Biden thinks that the way to counter Elon Musk's "uncontrollable" freedom of
speech on Twitter is to create a Dis-Information Governance Board.  It
sounds like an Orwellian Big Brother hijack of Woke ideology to impose on
anyone who disagrees.

 

In the name of the First Amendment that guarantees free speech, and in the
name of every healthy science that is an open ongoing search for truth- this
proposed Dis-Information Board should be defeated so it never sees the light
of day.  If Woke ideology people want truth, let it be fought out on the
marketplace of free ideas where healthy debate can identify the strengths
and weaknesses of each side.  Shutting down heretics belongs to an age long
past.  If you think you're right and that your position on something is
true, then let there be a respectful dialogue among people of good will.

 

 

 

 

 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Executive Director, Neuro-Semantics

P.O. Box 8

Clifton CO. 81520 USA

www.neurosemantics.com 

 

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134324 NeuroSemantics Inside Out Front Cover

 

 

 

 

 

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