Elements of Truth

Michael Baumann lists eight essential questions for judging the reliability of information.

- Michael Baumann

We live in times where a lie is halfway around the world before the truth gets halfway out of bed. From half-educated half-wits declaring them-selves as experts in anything, to the sharpening and levelling of political information, to the smearing of opponents, to the latest rumours in a crisis, to the creation of alternative facts, to targeted disinformation campaigns, how do you know that what you are being told is true?

You don’t.

Almost nothing you know or believe about the world is based on your own experience. Almost everything you know or believe about the world you know on trust. This applies to both information regarding questions of fact and information regarding questions of causation. There is good reason for the motto of Britain’s Royal Society (of science): Nullius in verba: ‘Take no one’s word for it’. Rather, you yourself must assess the reliability of the information presented to you.

Here is a list of eight questions you should ask: four regarding the information source, and four regarding the information itself.

1. What is the quality of the information channel?