Declining standards for truth?

[Sunstone]

Are the standards whereby we asess what is true and what is not true declining? Sometimes it seems to me that people no longer have the discipline to follow the truth wherever it leads them. But is this a modern thing, or has it always been that way? Specifically, what does it mean that the scientific method seems to be poorly respected these days? Do people just believe what they want to believe?

 

[Lightkeeper]

I think people have figured out they have brains and are learning how to use them. We have freedom to discover our own truth. We are no longer locked into someone else's truth set down by religion or science or government. Maybe we are developing a wait and see attitude. We realize nothing is carved in stone. Meanwhile we live and seek. I live to seek.

 

[Valjean]

People have always believed what was familiar and convenient. Religious intellectuals are a rarity everywhere.

Have you ever noticed that children of Christians become Christians, while the children of Buddhists become Buddhists? They both have access to data on both religions, but they're intellectually lazy and conform to what is convenient. They don't do the critical analysis necessary to make an informed choice.

 

[desi]

When people find their own truth it often comes at the price of ignorance to the real truth, which is out there.

 

[Master Vigil]

"When people find their own truth it often comes at the price of ignorance to the real truth, which is out there."

Or perhaps there is no truth out there, or truth is beyond our finite imperfect perceptions and understanding. So our own truth may be the best we get. What color shirt am I wearing now? If I told you green, would you believe me? How could you know? Your truth is simply that you don't know the truth. So perhaps the real truth is ignorance of the the "real" truth.

 

[Lintu]

I think that the people who create truths that are comfortable to themselves are the most outspoken, so it sure seems that they are the majority. I think that overall, a lot of people are, as Lightkeeper put it, figuring out how to use their brains.

 

[desi]

"When people find their own truth it often comes at the price of ignorance to the real truth, which is out there."

Or perhaps there is no truth out there, or truth is beyond our finite imperfect perceptions and understanding. So our own truth may be the best we get. What color shirt am I wearing now? If I told you green, would you believe me? How could you know? Your truth is simply that you don't know the truth. So perhaps the real truth is ignorance of the the "real" truth.

The deeper you dig the more you know about anything. For eons people thought the world was flat, which isn't true. Then they thought the moon was made of cheese, which isn't true either. Such is the price of ignorance. Today there is so much information out there that people have the ability to find the truth in most areas if they seek it out.