The War to Defend Truth

The scientific communities, the scientific organizations pledged to discover truth and to live by a code that condemns corruption, are in crisis. Plaguing them is, “What is our function if the societies we serve no longer value truth”?

Until I started researching climate science in depth, I took it for granted Americans valued truth. I am a little naïve. I grew up in a part of the country intolerant of lying. The honor code at the Air Force Academy was, “I will not lie, steal or cheat nor tolerate anyone who does.” Military effectiveness demands honesty.

In the September issue of Scientific American titled, “Truth, Lies, and Uncertainty” columnists concentrated on what I, at one time, took for granted.

Let me tell you a short story from my Academy days. Between freshman and sophomore years we had to attend Escape and Evasion School. This included a simulated prisoner of war camp. In the school we, of course, were the prisoners.

The whole POW scenario started with a morning briefing. In the briefing we were told we were airmen on a bombing mission over North Vietnam along with a few key imaginary details about our home base, aircraft, weapons, etc. 

When I say we were told, that does not mean I listened. I decided to catch up on my sleep as I knew the next few nights, I wouldn’t be get any.  The purpose of the briefing was to give us information we needed to protect from the enemy.  Why should I pay attention to something I was not going to divulge when I could be getting in a few Z’s?

We imaginary aviators were loaded in trucks and off we went. Enroute we were ambushed. Machine guns were firing away, and we were yanked out of the trucks. The enemy tossed us to the ground, tied us up, pulled laundry bags over our heads and, for good measure, tossed a couple handfuls of dirt in the bags. That was the beginning of a few sleepless days and nights of random torture, ideological retraining, and interrogation.

The interrogations were done by two enemy interrogators. One, the good cop, asked questions about our unit, airbase, and operation. The other was the bad cop. I think my bad cop was a bit sadistic. As the good cop politely asked me questions the bad cop contorted me into uncomfortable positions and kicked me in the ribs.

My response to the good cop was, “I do not know.” This response was met with more kicks to the ribs. I started to regret my decision to sleep through the briefing.

Since my response was so genuine, I think they believed me. They did not ramp up the torture. Why beat the heck out of someone when there is nothing to get?  Unlike some of my classmates, I missed the ice water immersion, the crawl through the snake and spider pit, the water boarding, and the Box.

                                                                                                                                                    

Truth is precious. How dedicated are we to protect it and, if we do not, what are the consequences?  It’s one thing to resist telling the truth to the enemy. It would be ruinous and treasonous to divulge critical information to the enemy.

But is it not just as ruinous to disregard, distort, or deny critical science information we and our kids need to survive?

These are the questions we face right now as a nation.

Scientists are pursuing facts regarding truth vs lies. Given the data coming in, here are what scientists believe to be true:

1.     We are not born to lie. Scientists monitor brain activity of people put in tough scenarios where they are coerced to lie. Our brains display a lot of electrical activity processing the first lie and its consequences. But each subsequent unpunished lie creates less and less brain activity. Lying, it appears, becomes easier with practice. A corollary scientists may want to study is, “Do people and societies subjected to lies go through a normalization process?”

2.     Most humans often choose, “Social Conformity” over truth when making decisions. If defending truth jeopardizes our social standing truth often suffers.

3.     We all have worldviews. If truth conflicts with our worldview, we often ignore truth rather than question our opinions by investigation. Social media reinforces this by creating click-bait echo chambers of likeminded people. We create an online cyber tribe that justifies our opinions, true or false. When we commit to the cyber tribe, we open ourselves to manipulation by disingenuous people.

4.     Directly from Scientific American, “Clearly, bribery, and more broadly, dishonesty, are contagious.” “And notably, its domino effect can impact many individuals over time, spreading quickly across a society and, if left unchecked, entrenching a culture of dishonesty.”

5.     The most effective antidotes to lying and corruption are strong cultural norms that condemn it and an honest and effective justice system that punishes corruption.

My take and climate: If we define corruption as the misuse of public power for private benefit then the denial of climate change science is corruption at its worst. It is powerful elites protecting their short-term fossil fuel profits by stealing the future from those who cannot defend themselves, the yet to be born. To complete this theft, the denier attacks the public source of truth, its scientists. This further cripples’ societies ability to defend itself from corruption and, if left unchallenged, the destructive cycle accelerates.

 

Sources:

Scientific American, September 2019

The Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International                   

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