It's a good mental exercise to ask yourself, what is truth, really?
If you come upon a truth, is it really true for everyone?
Suppose scientists tell you that there is a planet called Hades. You have never seen Hades. You have seen pictures of Hades. You will never go to Hades and it will have no bearing on your life or any other living creature that you know of.
In fact, no one appears to have any evidence of this planet except some pictures they took with a radio telescope.
It is true that observations of Hades have been made. But is Hades real? Someone could draw a pixel in Photoshop and it would also look like Hades.
"true" and "real" are closely connected concepts.
While it may be a fact that scientists have detected this planet with a telescope, is this truth?
Most people would agree that truth and reality are attached to things people have actually touched, felt and seen up close. Lies and imagination, on the other hand, are attached to things that are far away, that no one has seen.
Much of science isn't "true" in this sense of the word. And scientists themselves are also very careful to claim that they know what is true or factual. They deliberately avoid these words, because they know they can only observe, conclude and relay that information to others.
In terms of us humans down here on macro-scale Earth, "truth" rarely refers to science, because it's rarely relevant to everyday experience.
So, truth and fact also have something to do with relevance.
Thorwegian (old account) /
npub16g…6qsw5
2024-01-17 07:21:10
Author Public Key
npub16gpwhmv0x6qjjasdlnhkjuf9pe96fz4ly704rpcsrph3kcd7ekxqs6qsw5Published at
2024-01-17 07:21:10Event JSON
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"content": "It's a good mental exercise to ask yourself, what is truth, really?\n\nIf you come upon a truth, is it really true for everyone?\n\nSuppose scientists tell you that there is a planet called Hades. You have never seen Hades. You have seen pictures of Hades. You will never go to Hades and it will have no bearing on your life or any other living creature that you know of.\n\nIn fact, no one appears to have any evidence of this planet except some pictures they took with a radio telescope.\n\nIt is true that observations of Hades have been made. But is Hades real? Someone could draw a pixel in Photoshop and it would also look like Hades.\n\n\"true\" and \"real\" are closely connected concepts.\n\nWhile it may be a fact that scientists have detected this planet with a telescope, is this truth?\n\nMost people would agree that truth and reality are attached to things people have actually touched, felt and seen up close. Lies and imagination, on the other hand, are attached to things that are far away, that no one has seen.\n\nMuch of science isn't \"true\" in this sense of the word. And scientists themselves are also very careful to claim that they know what is true or factual. They deliberately avoid these words, because they know they can only observe, conclude and relay that information to others.\n\nIn terms of us humans down here on macro-scale Earth, \"truth\" rarely refers to science, because it's rarely relevant to everyday experience.\n\nSo, truth and fact also have something to do with relevance.",
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