TRUTH

Thinking about truth today and realized that maybe it’s not that important, at least to some people. I’m reading a book on corruption in science. Apparently there is a great deal of it in history. I’m not that surprised by the corruption, but I am shocked by the apparent lack of concern for getting the truth out when it becomes apparent that fraud has occurred. Corrupted Science by John Grant has many, many examples that will make your toes curl. Legendary figures who stole or fudged data, whistleblowers who were persecuted for revealing the truth, academic institutions who protected the scammer etc, etc. In a mini-epiphany the other day, I realized, the truth maybe really doesn’t matter. Once the data is out and accepted as conventional wisdom, may be it is too much to challenge it?
The gap between truth and belief is always going to be there. For one thing, truth is hard to define and even harder to prove. It always seems relative somehow. Perhaps, because by definition, we are subjective creatures,we are unable to grasp absolute truth, even though we seem to be on a never-ending task to find it. Beside that, we tend to believe what suits us and go find the evidence to support that belief.

So does truth matter and what if it doesn’t? I think the answer depends on who you are talking about. For me to believe that I can keep eating chips and fries and not get clogged arteries is one thing. I can always see the statistics and choose to believe that it won’t happen to me. That belief hurts only me and anyone who relies on me for their normal life (ie husband and kids). But if I am a leader who others look up to, and who is expected to make decisions that affect many lives, the gap between truth and belief becomes very troubling. For those that are in positions of judgement and action, we must require them to be open to the truth, and to correcting circumstances where it has been hidden, misinterpreted or altered, particularly for personal gain at others expense.

My take--we must continue to seek the truth, and importantly, require that our leaders do the same, be it in corporations, government or academia. If we are to progress as a society, I think there have to be visible consequences for those who abuse their status to deliberately mislead or collude with others who do. The challenge these days fro all of use however, is in sifting through the masses of data and opinions in the media to get at the truth, whatever we define it to be.