How Can You Tell? Searching for the Truth in the Age of Technology

And that's what this course is all about. Because even though you CAN'T tell about some things, you still know they're not real because of what else you already know. You know that it's extremely unlikely that anyone can run a needle through his or her arm and not suffer the pain or bleed or run offstage screaming. You know that you're watching a "show" and that the man performing is a "magician" who, by definition, does "tricks." And you know things about the human anatomy and about what happens on a stage when you put those things together with what your eyes tell you, so you conclude that it's simply not real.

Offstage Tricks
The underlying premise in a free enterprise has always been that the responsibility for determing the truth lies with the consumer. Over the years, some government controls have been introduced, but that premise remains. The information is out there; it's up to you to determine if the politician, car salesman, evangelist, or whever else, is lying.

Now, when I say lying I 'm not talking about the boldface lie from which we are generally protected by the law. I'm referring to the manipulation or hiding of facts which might otherwise work against the salesman. But where the sources of information were once or twice removed from the buyer, they're now at our fingertips, no further away than the click of a mouse button. The problem is this: along with our new ability to get to the facts, we must wade through mounds of data, most of it false and misleading, in order to get to "the truth." Most of it isn't as simple as a magic trick. And most of us don't know enough how to be able to tell what's "real" and what's not.

How You Can Become a "Fact Magician"
My hope is that you'll learn two things from this course. First, you'll learn how to go about finding the truth, the truth about anything you see, read or hear. Second, you'll learn how to sort through the tons of information that's available and find out what's useful and what's not.

But wait! There's more. Because, if you continue reading we'll throw in, absolutely free, the following fun activities. In addition to learning how to sort through information and find "the truth" you'll get to try some of the "tricks" that writers and speakers use to distort and manipulate information for their own purposes. You won't be as good at it as some of those who have spent years practicing, but like Harry Anderson, if you want to learn how and you're willing to work at it, you just might grow up to be a Fact Magician yourself.

My Aim is True
That's the title of an old Elvis Costelo song. He was referring to his intentions with his girl friend. (maybe her name was Allison, the title of another of his songs.) I mention this because that's the way this course is divided. We're looking at the truth on the basis of the writer's intentions. Whenever someone writes or speak or communicates in any way, he or she has intends to express one of four kinds of truth: Personal Truth, Literary Truth, Scientific Truth, or Pseudo Truth.

The lectures that follow focus on the writer's intentions. When Elvis said his aim was true, he meant that his intentions were honest. From now on, whenever you write, you ought to ask yourself..what are MY intentions?

The Four Truths of Communication
Talk, as they say, is cheap. (Just surf the Internet and you'll see--when you use your word processor to write you turn the talk into electronic impulses. Some people don't do this very well, but they may be good at things like speaking or drawing. Then again, people who write well may not be very good at those things. But as a student of writing, you have to concern yourself with words in a written (rather than spoken) form. Those concerns can be divided into how well an individual word, sentence, or paragraph communicates, (commonly called "grammar") and with the purpose and organization of your writing. In this course, we concentrate on the purpose and organization portion.

Whenever you put your thoughts on paper, you have a purpose, even if you aren't aware of it. As explained earlier, that purpose relates to the type of truth you're dealing with. There are four purposes:

• To present and interpret information (called Scientific Truth)

• To express your beliefs, ideas, and attitudes (called Personal Truth)

• To present the truth through fiction (called Literary or Fictional Truth)

• To limit or distort the truth in order to persuade (called Pseudo-truth)

Scientific Truth
The presentation of scientific truth follow very rigid rules of proof. Facts must be documented and the information must be presented as honestly, accurately, and completely as possible. Authenticity is important--communicating an accurate representation is critical. There's no room for opinion. All that matters is objectively presenting the facts. Following that, conclusions may be drawn, but they must be solidly based on the facts.

Personal Truth
The expression of personal truth is the opposite of scientific truth. (Some might call it "faith.") We usually find it in things like diaries or journals, which usually have little value to anyone but the writers. They are simply expressing what's true for them, what they believe to be true, regardless of whether it can be proven. Whether or not it can be verified or have meaning to anyone else is irrelevant. In fact, the author may figure that no one will ever read it (just as you certainly might not talk to yourself if you thought anyone were listening). Personal truth is limited to one individual and it's completely under the control of the writer. When you express you're personal truth you're not concerned with what anyone thinks.

Literary (or Fictional) Truth
While some writing provides an escape from ordinary life and some is just fun to read, some fiction (like stories, plays, movies, novels) provide a kind of truth that can't be found any other way. When you watch a movie or read a book and feel that it "rings true" you have found Literary Truth.

Literary truth is a lot like a camera; it does not attempt to make a judgement, but simply presents a picture. That picture is "taken" by a good writer who is simply saying to the reader "Here's how *I* see it. And the "it" of fictional truth is the "human condition." It's the writer's view of a piece of life as it is lived by his or her fictional characters. But those characters are representative of a truth which the writer sees and passes along to the reader.

This should not be confused with the next category (pseudo-truth) which sometimes uses the art of fiction to persuade the reader. The writer of fictional truth does not make value judgements about things; he or she simply presents them to the reader.

Pseudo-truth
When a writer wants to change someone's mind or change what they do, they usually try to find out what appeals to teir readers and present information which will convince them to think or behave differently. Advertisements are the most common examples of persuasive this; other examples include political pamphlets and religious sermons. Anytime someone plays "fast and loose" with the facts with the intention of persuading their reader, they are engaging in the pseudo-truth.

Now...read the following examples and see if you can determine which type of truth is being presented.

1. A computer is an electronic machine that performs high-speed mathematical or logical calculations or assembles, stores, correlates, or otherwise processes information derived from coded data in accordance with a predetermined program.

2. The computer glowed quietly. Without making a sound, it watched and waited for the man to make his next move, knowing that eventually the man would have to sleep while the computer would not. Then it would be time to strike.

3. Computers are supposed to save time, but all they do is complicate things. I can remember a time when all you had to do was pick up the phone and call the bank and ask them how much money you had left in your account. Now you have to dial the number, then enter your account number (make sure you press the pound key after every transaction, sucker!), enter your pin number, select the transaction and wait for that syrupy electronic voice to say "We're sorry. The automated teller system is not functioning at this time."

4. Maybe you never thought you would need a computer. Well, think again. The new Presuma Ten Thousand makes home computing as simple as going to the refrigerator and grabbing a cold beer. In fact, if you click on the beer icon, the Presuma can get that beer for you AND record the game so you won't miss a minute of this year's super bowl action. So check it out. The Presuma Ten Thousand. It's the ultimate computing machine!