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“I call it a thought virus, because really what they want to do is they just want to replicate their way of thinking to other people.”
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Len Pozner
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Definition of a thought virus:
“majority illusion, where many people appear to believe something ….which makes that thing more credible.”
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Clayton A. Davis at Indiana University
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“Nature has planted in our minds an insatiable longing to see the truth.”
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Cicero
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“Book store owners and record store owners used to be oracles, in that way; you’d go in this dusty old place and they might point you toward something that would change your life.
All that’s gone.”
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Tom Waits
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Boy oh boy.
If there is one insatiable desire the entire 7 billion people on this earth of ours shares, it would be for truth.
Let’s just say, well, from that point on it is all downhill for truth.
Let me tell you what I am going to tell you.
There is an enemy in this story — the thought virus.
There is an unexpected doctor in this story — the future librarian.
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“This is the look of the truth: layered and elusive.”
Anne Carson
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That said. I have written dozens of times about the challenges Truth faces in today’s world. I have also written several times, in rebuttal to the overall dismay & despair & hand wringing of the older generations, that I believe the younger generations will solve this. They will solve it because they will find a lack of truth certainty untenable and … well … do what generations do – innovate a solution to an existing issue.
The issue, to me, is fairly simple to articulate <and I don’t think I am the sharpest knife in the drawer>. To articulate it I go to the 80/20 rule.
In the past we were presented with a fact, or a truth <which is most typically a coalescing of facts> and we accepted it was most likely 80% true … and that was good enough. We figured the 20% wouldn’t change the core truth. That 20% also permitted us some space for unlearning or some adaptability to absorb an additional fact to course correct our thinking. But that factoid, because it was mentally residing in the 20%, needed some gravitas to shift the 80%. That 20% also gave some room for the doubters and conspiracy theorists and misguided contrarians to dabble.
In today’s world truth has flipped. We are presented with a fact, or a truth <which is most typically a coalescing of facts> and we accept it is most likely 20% true … and then we rummage around in the 80% <if we are curious> to coalesce some additional things <some facts and some conjecture>.
But, suffice it to say, a shitload of people wander around on a daily basis having beliefs grounded in a 20% fact foundation. This means they either quadruple down on their 20% <to create the 80% in their heads> or they are constantly unsure of what is truth and hat is not being buffeted about by the winds of whatever information is in the air that day. This shift damns truth to a wretched game of truth or consequences because truth demands a certain amount of certainty – which we have ceded in today’s world.
Regardless. Let me offer two words to everyone – information literacy. I believe it is a commonly used term within the hallowed halls of librarianism <in other words … librarians use the term a lot>.
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Information Literacy
Information literacy is a crucial skill in the pursuit of knowledge. It involves recognizing when information is needed and being able to efficiently locate, accurately evaluate, effectively use, and clearly communicate information in various formats. It refers to the ability to navigate the rapidly growing information environment, which encompasses an increasing number of information suppliers as well as the amount supplied, and includes bodies of professional literature, popular media, libraries, the Internet, and much more. Increasingly, information is available in unfiltered formats, raising questions about its authenticity, validity, and reliability. This abundance of information is of little help to those who have not learned how to use it effectively.
To become lifelong learners, we need to know not just how to learn, but how to teach ourselves. We must acquire the skills necessary to be independent, self-directed learners.
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Derived from the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education
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Information literacy is the superweapon to permit truth to battle on the field of doubts, lies and conspiracies.
I also believe we will create a new career in our battle over truth – information literacists. Let’s call them our future librarian superheroes <information literacists>.
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“We don’t become better because we acquire new information. We become better because we acquire better loves. We don’t become what we know. Education is a process of love formation. When you go to a school, it should offer you new things to love. “
David Brooks
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Look.
We talk a lot about how bookstores have suffered and libraries have suffered but they are just places of learning and, in my eyes, we should be focused on deliverers of knowledge <which enables the learning>. I would love future librarians to be ‘book slingers’, but I think their future specialness resides in information literacy <”truth” as it were>.
And that, my friends, is the future librarian.
The one who steps into the library and offers us the rediscovery of specialness.
Specialness?
I believe libraries should be less about the books and more about a place for the mind. My gut tells me they will need to wrestle that mantle away from the perceived ‘place of the mind’ – the internet. This shouldn’t be that difficult. The internet does NOT have a monopoly on knowledge, it has a monopoly on information. Some good information, some bad information, some false information and some true information. In today’s world there is no “judge.”
And while I would shift the character of the library to more of a place of congregation combining coffee shop, book exchange, art gallery, museum and … well … enlightened conflict <human exchange of ideas> I think the library of the future needs “information therapists” who engage in mind therapy.
Superheroes of the mind lording over information libraries.
I see libraries as havens of truth self-improvement.
I see libraries as islands of shared intellectual heritage.
I see libraries as raucous spaces of learning reverence.
I see libraries as arenas where all are victors in the battle for truth.
Libraries need to find a new reason for existing, a new role and a new way of working and I believe the librarian is the catalyst for the makeover.
Frankly, we do need superheroes and less “community gathering places.” I am not opposed to community but … geez … truth desperately needs bold superheroes and not revered spaces of whispered knowledge among few.
I feel strongly about this because … well … 3 things.
- My sister is an ‘information literacist.’ I have seen the power of librarians up close & personal. They were Google before there was google. For years we have seen them as quiet servants of books behind some desk and now they should be encouraged to step forward and champion not just books, and literature, but knowledge. In fact … I would begin recruiting those who DO want to actively engage.
If not them, then who?
- Society, led by some fairly vocal ‘truth benders’, are leading the charge against truth by standing up and basically saying nothing we say means anything, we’ll do what we want to do and tell you what truth is afterwards. I say that because books, and knowledge, cannot fight unless someone holds them forth as the torch is held forth on the statue of liberty. Truth, whether we like it or not, demands hand-to-hand combat. I believe we need superheroes on the side of truth.
- Truth, more often than not, is complex. Philosophically, truth is simply the idea that ‘facts’, viewed from a human perspective, end up being nuanced and create a complex multidimensional slightly flawed diamond. Not everyone can handle truth … it most likely demands superheroes.
To be clear. I don’t believe we should be sending these new superhero librarians out without some allies and tools.
Personally I believe we <including me>, who care about communicating truth and having truth reestablished, need to go back to the drawing board with regard to ‘learning’ and unlearning and … well … reintroducing truth to society.
I also believe Google should be stepping up to the plate.
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<about Google> This is the equivalent of going into a library and asking a librarian about Judaism and being handed 10 books of hate
Danny Sullivan
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Google needs to get their ‘truth compass’ heads out of their asses and start thinking about some technology voodoo they can create, and implement, that assists in filtering out ‘the fake.’
Ah.
Fake. ‘Fake news’ is nothing more than purposeful disinformation using some actual fake-information – this is a thought virus.
Fake news is NOT opinions.
Fake news, or disinformation, is often information disseminated as ‘whole fact’ and, yet, it is a splinter <at best> of a fact.
Fake news is deliberately false and misleading information published in social media and elsewhere online.
But fake news, at its core, is about lies and lying.
But fake news, at its core, resides in some alternative universe where what you & I know <and is basic corroborated truth> does not exist. It doesn’t even have a heartbeat in that universe. In that universe its citizens discard the usual rules of evidence flippantly dismissing actual eyewitness testimony as lies, actual confessions of someone who was guilty are waved away as ‘they said what they had to say’ and documented information is scoffed at as flawed, paid for by some elite cabal, some academia gibberish … or a simple forgery.
In this alternative universe real information, truth as it were, is simply what someone believes <sometimes under the guise of common sense> … and they conflate “believe” with “know.”
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“Of course, disinformation,” Quinn said. “I can do that.
I’ll leave out critical events, then I’ll put in false information and twist everything that has happened around into a vague, shadowy history that obscures what really took place.”
Terry Goodkind
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This alternative universe ends up being created from some complex combination of lies & truth which are undermining the very idea of facts, history and truth. In fact, they turn truth and facts on their heads therefore making any evidence of the actual truth & reality bogus <in this alternative universe> … uhm … which means nothing can be proven and truth becomes … uhm … “thoughtful opinions.” Ultimately this creates that 80% doubt which swallows up the facts & truth like quicksand. In that quicksand facts become a conspiracy, a legend, a hoax, or some active effort to circumvent truth.
In other words. In this bizarre world truth becomes lies and lies become truth. While this seems bizarre, it is dangerous:
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“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist.”
Hannah Arendt
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I say all of this long thought piece to state – this is a problem which demands a superhero.
I say all this long thought piece to state that these new librarian superheroes, our doctors against thought viruses, needs to be a defined career. It needs a career path, training and … well … I guess certifications or degrees or some shit like that.
Why? It is surprisingly tricky to debunk and compete against “fake.” It is surprisingly <and disturbingly> incredibly difficult to debate with a liar. You would think that you could simply point out what is a lie, but it is not easy when dealing with a good liar. Yeah. There are ‘good liars.’ They justify what they say by saying “but its true” and defending the fraction of the whole they used against the more truthful ‘whole story.’ They thrive in the 80% doubt & uncertainty space in the information literacy world.
By the way … this 80% ‘uncertain truth world’ has been in the works for a while <it has just found some influential enablers of ate>:
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This has been a long time coming. Edelman, the world’s largest public relations firm and my previous employer, issues an annual study into the state of trust around the world. Over the past few years that study has pointed to a clear trend: the erosion of trust in authority figures and the rise of trust in “people like me.” We called that the inversion of the pyramid of influence. It means that your neighbor is just as much a source of insightful analysis on the nuances of U.S. foreign policy towards Iran as regional scholars, arms control experts, or journalists covering the State Department.
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And maybe that is my point on the librarian superheroes and thought viruses … the inversion of the pyramid of influence. If that is true <and I believe it to be so> the battle for truth almost demands a new type of expert that people can actually trust. We need truth to be championed by someone other than “Joe my neighbor,”
Anyway.
Like any good <bad> virus … it is here to stay and a sonuvabitch to kill.
Truth is too important to let the current battle be fought without some superheroes on its side. The truth is the axis munid, the dead center of the earth … when it’s out of place nothing is right; everyone is in the wrong place.
Society, and our future, demands librarians to venture out from behind the desk and become information literacy superheroes.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
That’s just what I think.
But I have to tell you a truth … truth is getting the living shit kicked out of it in today’s world and we better come up with a solution soon , therefore, my idea is as good as anything out there yet.
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“The person who pretends to not see the truth is committing something much worse than a mortal sin, which can only ruin one’s soul – but instead committing us all to lifetimes of pain.
The truth is not just something we bring to light to amuse ourselves; the truth is the axis munid, the dead center of the earth. When it’s out of place nothing is right; everyone is in the wrong place; no light can penetrate. Happiness evades us and we spread pain and misery wherever we go. Each person, above all others, has an obligation to recognize the truth and stand by it.”
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Jacque Silette.
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“I prefer nothing, unless it is true.”
Socrates
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