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Will humans or computer algorithms be the future arbiters of “truth”?

The following infographic from Futurism sums up the ideas that academics, technologists, and other experts are proposing that we implement to stop the spread of fake news.

Below the infographic, Visual Capitalist’s Jeff Desjardins raises concerns about each of these methods.

Courtesy of: Visual Capitalist

While fake news is certainly problematic, the solutions proposed to penalize articles deemed to be “untrue” are just as scary.

By centralizing fact checking, a system is created that is inherently fragile, biased, and prone for abuse. Furthermore, the idea of axing websites that are deemed to be “untrue” is an initiative that limits independent thought and discourse, while allowing legacy media to remain entrenched.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Peak Oil: Are We Not Better Than This? Pt 5

May 2, 2016

Peak Oil: Are We Not Better Than This? Pt 5

[T]he West’s energy security is assured to a degree that has not existed in the past.
That’s good news for the American people and for the world, even if it is not news that Obama wants to hear.

He doesn’t? I wonder how that author knows this? Any chance it’s instead just a variation of the same let’s-not-consider-facts-and-instead-just-make-stuff-up-to-“prove”-our-point-and-keep-the-followers-properly-agitated strategy?

With a century’s worth of cheap, practical energy in hand, the global economy has a good chance of expanding.

A “good chance”?! And that would be based on … what?

What if we actually had meaningful discussions about the assertions contained in ExxonMobil’s “The Outlook for Energy: A View to 2040” report which the author of the above-quote focused on [in one of the two articles which serve as the foundation of this series]? What if it was finally agreed that just firing off assertions based on little more than conjecture, hope, or a let’s-do-or-say-whatever-we-have-to animosity?

There’s no reason my grandchildren should not be living ten times as well as I am today. What stands in their way is not a lack of resources or technology – it’s government. Specially, liberal government.

Of course that’s the problem! Geology? Costs? An array of exploration, production, financial, and access considerations? Nah! Just liberals in keeping with their still vast, double-top-super-duper-secret conspiracy to … do stuff that the Right doesn’t approve of. We certainly don’t want our children or grandchildren to have better opportunities and better lives than we’ve enjoyed! Nope!

Our focus continues to be solely on dealing with facts, raising concerns based on same, seeking options and alternatives, planning, preparing, and … wait! Where is that approach going to take all of us? Damn those facts!

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

A Media Unmoored from Facts

April 8, 2016

A Media Unmoored from Facts

Exclusive: Mainstream U.S. journalism has completely lost its way, especially in dealing with foreign policy issues where bias now overwhelms any commitment to facts, a dangerous development, writes Robert Parry.

Several weeks ago, I received a phone call from legendary investigative reporter Seymour Hersh who had seen one of my recent stories about Syria and wanted to commiserate over the state of modern journalism. Hersh’s primary question regarding reporters and editors at major news outlets these days was: “Do they care what the facts are?”

Hersh noted that in the past – in the 1970s when he worked at The New York Times – even executive editor Abe Rosenthal, who was a hard-line cold warrior with strong ideological biases, still wanted to know what was really going on.

Washington Post’s editorial page editor Fred Hiatt.

My experience was similar at The Associated Press. Among the older editors, there was still a pride in getting the facts right – and not getting misled by some politician or spun by some government flack.

That journalistic code, however, no longer exists – at least not on foreign policy and national security issues. The major newspapers and TV networks are staffed largely by careerists who uncritically accept what they are fed by U.S. government officials or what they get from think-tank experts who are essentially in the pay of special interests.

For a variety of reasons – from the draconian staff cuts among foreign correspondents to the career fear of challenging some widely held “group think” – many journalists have simply become stenographers, taking down what the Important People say is true, not necessarily what is true.

It’s especially easy to go with the flow when writing about some demonized foreign leader. Then, no editor apparently expects anything approaching balance or objectivity, supposedly key principles of journalism.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Assessing Blame and the Victim Mentality

April 5, 2016

ASSESSING BLAME AND THE VICTIM MENTALITY

Have you ever experienced a situation while driving where, suddenly, you find yourself in unfamiliar territory and you’re not exactly sure where you are……even though you know you’re close to home or another well-known-to-you area? Maybe you were distracted, daydreaming or preoccupied by thoughts of work or personal issues. It has happened to all of us, that momentary confusion because the surroundings look unfamiliar.

Once we have traveled a path enough times, we remember the sequence of turns and specific landmarks more than the individual trees, houses or businesses on our route. As we travel down a familiar road, on a barely conscious level we tick off the various items that mark our progression towards our destination.

This cognitive shortcut allows us to devote brainpower to other pursuits while placing the driving/navigating on autopilot. This is precisely why the majority of accidents occur within thirty miles of home. Our attention level is greatly reduced while the normal hazards of driving are not.

Something remarkably similar is happening with regard to America in particular and the western world in general. From birth we are trained and conditioned to believe certain ‘facts’ and myths about our world as well as the processes we are to follow in order to navigate its various hazards, hurtles and pathways. At various stages we relegate select routes and practices to autopilot, thinking ‘OK, I’ve got that covered”.

In short, much of ‘life’ soon becomes routine and comfortably familiar (not threatening is a more accurate classification) and is quickly pushed to the cognitive background bearing the label ‘non essential’ and ‘already known’. The quickest and most effective cognitive method used to do so is to ‘label’ something, thereby associating it with preconceived and categorized ‘known knowns’.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Peak Oil: Simplicity Has Its Disadvantages

March 15, 2016

Peak Oil: Simplicity Has Its Disadvantages

Few of us appreciate just how much we rely upon inexpensive, readily-available supplies of energy to live our lives.

[W]hat future awaits us if we cannot be courageous and honest enough to plan for that future with the full range and understanding of all the facts now at our disposal? [1]

While there’s surely some benefit derived in keeping things simple for readers and followers, I’m still unclear as to what the long-term benefits are for them [and the rest of us] when the full range of facts and considerations about our future energy supply are kept off of the discussion table. It’s a defining characteristic of the conservative personality that they tend to prefer closure quickly; and this is so for matters both simple and complex.

But latching onto to one or two pieces of information or opinions in matters of greater complexity and accepting them as the final say can lead to bigger problems down the road when the majority of facts and considerations are ignored—or worse, not disclosed at all to those without the means to collect details on their own.

The issues surrounding the concept of peak oil are not a contest between progressive views and conservative ones. Peak Oil is about the facts on and in the ground. No one denies the great advantages and production increases for which tight oil production in the past few years is responsible. But that’s just a factual statement. It’s not the sum total of energy considerations and concerns today and/or tomorrow, despite the fact it tends to be couched that way by some.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Peak Oil: One-Sentence Problem-Solving

February 2, 2016

Peak Oil: One-Sentence Problem-Solving

As is still the case—unfortunately, for all of us—there remains a sizeable number of individuals, organizations, and other associations determined at all costs [literally] to preserve the primacy of fossil fuels to power us into the future. Facts: good when they can be massaged to fit the partial-truth narrative required to breathe life into an industry unwilling to bend to the realities of geology, economics, and … well, reality. Facts: not good when they address the broad range of issues and concerns best left neglected to further that Abundance-No Worries narrative.

One-sentence talking points seem to be the ideal. No concerns about having to delve into the complexities of ideologically-troublesome issues, for one thing. Summary statements suggest there are no worries, for another.

As for the harm caused by failing to properly inform those relying upon the assessments of those others presumed to know? Who has the time to explain all those facts and details and what-nots?

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 1998, when the article was written, global oil production was 75.7 million bbl/day. In 2014 it was 93.2, and our problem is too much oil.
It’s useful to remember such things when the ‘experts’ grandly tell us what’s going to happen. [1]

With the world awash in oil and prices falling toward $26 a barrel, Iran is set to add to the oversupply now that international sanctions have been eased.
It’s as if the whole world were conspiring to bury the tattered remains of the ‘peak oil’ thesis, so popular a few years ago. [2]

Economics and I have a gentlemen’s agreement: the less I discuss, the better. Notwithstanding, I do understand that when prices are as other-worldly low as they are now, few in the oil industry are eager to venture out and invest in production efforts they can ill-afford.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Absolutely Right

November 11, 2015

Absolutely Right

Good to see that even after months on hiatus, not much changes on the Right, right? First up:

The shale revolution has opened additional centuries of low-cost hydrocarbon resources to modern society….
The anti-fossil fuel environmental movement is in despair. For decades, proponents of the ideology of sustainable development preached that humanity was running out of oil and gas, that consumption of hydrocarbons was destroying the climate, and that renewable energy was rapidly becoming a cost-effective alternative. But the Shale Shock has slain peak oil and promises low-cost oil and gas for centuries to come. [1]

Yup! Except for those still-pesky facts, juvenile name-calling, and not actually addressing those issues, we indeed have additional centuries of hydrocarbon “resources” at our beck and call. Click our heels together; close our eyes; wish real hard; ignore reality; ignore our future; skip past the facts; omit explanations or critical distinctions, and presto!

If the “The anti-fossil fuel environmental movement is in despair” it’s because a legion of misinformers with public platforms continue to disseminate falsehoods [while ignoring a substantial body of facts supplying the full story and not just the partial one they massage for the benefit of the few], with a heaping shovelful of disingenuous, cherry-picked pseudo-truths for good measure. The public sure as hell isn’t being served by the ongoing stream of nonsense.

An important aspect of the pesky-facts portion of the discussion: oil producers can’t earn profits when the cost of oil is low. The “Shale Shock” works when prices are high.

Consumers as a rule don’t like high prices all that much. That puts a dent in the mandate for high prices to continue the “Shale Shock.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

A Mosaic Of Facts – Media Weapons Of Mass Delusion

October 2, 2015

A Mosaic Of Facts – Media Weapons Of Mass Delusion

Can you tell truth from lies in mass media? RT’s Miguel Francis-Santiago delves deep to try to understand the intricacies of information war. He meets media experts and puts together the Mosaic of Facts, showing how public opinion is manipulated, not just over the Ukrainian Crisis but throughout the world.

Trailer…

Full Documentary…

Hopefully it will get more people in the mainstream to wake up to the extremely dangerous situation which has developed in the mainstream media, which more than any single factor is leading the world to war.

The Delusions of David Frum’s Mind

August 20, 2015

The Delusions of David Frum’s Mind

Stephen Harper make you worried and angry? Chill, says Canada’s prodigal Republican son.

David Frum is not here anymore. That’s apparent from the defence of Stephen Harper he published in The Atlantic yesterday. It’s full of spin and falsehoods evident to those who actually live in Canada and are paying attention.

Born to a famous Canadian family, Frum leftlong ago to toil in the fertile vineyards of right-wing America, landing a White House job selling George W. Bush’s war, and then permanent pundit status.

Now, like an ex-pat come home on vacation but oblivious to all the torn-down landmarks, he argues Canadians have no right to be angry at what Harper has done to their democracy.

Our PM, he writes, is just a misunderstood “cerebral” who runs “a tight ship.”

This in supposed rebuttal to Stephen Marche’s barnburner of a Harper indictment, “The Closing of the Canadian Mind,” last week by the New York Times. Nothing to see here, Frum tells his largely American readers, move along. But his tries at puncturing Marche’s arguments fail either through willful or lazy ignorance.

First he banks on his readers not having read Marche’s piece, nor lived through nine years of Harper rule.

“So what did Stephen Harper actuallydo?” asks the supposedly flummoxed Frum. “How precisely did the Canadian prime minister silence debate, suppress information, and squelch democracy?”

He implies Marche lacks facts, when in fact Marche musters many facts, including the muzzling of scientists, killing of the long-form census, defunding of Arctic research, the robocalls scandal, and more. Frum makes believe none of this is in the piece, nor, one presumes, retrievable via Google. “You’re just supposed to know,” whines the policy wonk. (Okay, let’s help him then, with this piece Tyee list of 70 Harper abuses.)

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Climate Change

June 3, 2015

Climate Change

Climate change is a controversy. What appear to be independent scientists say that the climate is warming due to greenhouse gases produced by human activity. This warming, apparently measurable, has many impacts on sea levels, and on plant, animal, sea, and bird life, as well as food supply for a heavily populated earth.

Readers, accustomed to me telling them the truth about issues on which I am competent, ask me about the climate problem. Is it real or not?

As far as I can tell the polluting corporations have sufficient think tanks and research institutes to neutralize the independent scientists. If one is not a climate expert, which I am not, one doesn’t really know. However, I have learned in my many years that an independent voice is far more reliable than a paid voice.

Over the years I have come to appreciate Dahr Jamail’s reporting. Here is his report on the situation:http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/31089-imminent-collapse-of-the-antarctic-ice-shelf-and-a-new-era-in-the-arctic

Possibly climate change is occurring because of solar activity or because of activity inside the earth itself. The attention should not be on the cause but on the fact. First establish the fact, then look for the cause.

My view of this is that life depends on climate, and it doesn’t take a lot of change in one direction or the other to create problems for life. This fact makes climate change an important issue, and corporations should stop paying people to lie about it.

Climate change, if real, is clearly a much greater threat than Muslim terrorists or alleged Chinese and Russian hegemonic aspirations. Therefore, Washington should spend some of the one trillion dollars Washington blows on the military/security complex on arriving at the best conclusion about climate change and its remedies, if any.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

“Facts Do Not Cease To Exist Because They Are Ignored”

April 10, 2015

“Facts Do Not Cease To Exist Because They Are Ignored”

Courage

“The kid had a 94-mile-per-hour fastball, a clean delivery, and a body that looked as if it had been created to wear a baseball uniform. He was, in short, precisely the kind of pitcher Billy thought he had trained his scouting department to avoid.”

– Michael Lewis, Moneyball

In his book Moneyball, Michael Lewis explores the irrationality and ignorance of human behavior and the opportunities it creates for those willing to resist it. The book represents a value investors guide to how the Oakland A’s, with one of the smallest budgets in Major League Baseball, consistently found and acquired quality players that were shunned under the traditional scouting matrix. These overlooked and undervalued players afforded the Oakland A’s and General Manager Billy Beane the fifth best winning percentage with the fourth lowest total payroll over the last 15 years. As the graph below from FiveThirtyEight shows, Beane dramatically outperformed his opponents when it came to maximizing the value of his budget.

Once when asked why he was willing to allow Michael Lewis to write a book about his approach, Beane responded “It won’t matter who reads it, no one would have the courage to put into practice what we do.” This same model of logic and courage should be applied in investing.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

THE DEATH OF HOPE AND BELIEF

March 9, 2015

THE DEATH OF HOPE AND BELIEF

As much as we would like to ‘believe’ we are all clear headed, logical individuals who only deal with verified ‘facts’ while shunning hearsay, rumor, ‘hope’ and ‘belief’, the reality is to some degree or another we integrate all of the above, and so much more, into our personal cognitive operating system. The tendency when reading such a statement is to immediately emotionally trigger, become annoyed or even angry, and then listen to that soothing inner egoic voice as it assures us we are not the one Cog is looking for.

Regardless of whether we attribute this cognitive juxtaposition to raging ego, genetic predisposition, normalcy bias, cultural conditioning or simply denial, critical thinking, if ever truly deployed, is often limited to those times when we ‘believe’ it is in our best interest to think outside the box. But even then, our effort is severely limited by the tendency to hold on tightly to the comforting handrails when venturing into foreign territory.

Try as we might to convince ourselves otherwise, hope is just the ugly stepchild of belief, interchangeable and indistinguishable, especially during periods of high emotional stress and cognitive fight or flight. Naval gazing, pretty much all we see when engaging in hope and belief, is the ultimate human blinder and the chains that bind.

Once we accept something as ‘true’, essentially a non specific condition arrived at with minimal critical thinking and even less logical reasoning, rarely if ever do we revisit the subject to check our premises. And why would we since we ‘believe’ what we want and not what is actually there. Since the only unchanging ‘truth’ throughout the universe is that change is constant, ‘We the People’ often hope our beliefs still hold true………assuming we honestly question our beliefs in order to discover if they ever rang true.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

As Stephen Lendman makes clear, the Obama regime is a congenital liar.

March 7, 2015

As Stephen Lendman makes clear, the Obama regime is a congenital liar.

It’s unprecedented in outrageous lies on Ukraine. Everything from calling US-installed Nazis democrats to phantom Russian hordes pouring across the border Wehrmacht-style.

US officials recite one Big Lie after another. Media scoundrels regurgitate them like gospel. Mindless Americans believe whoppers anyone paying minimal attention would reject.

Wars without end persist. Millions die. Survivors suffer horrifically. Ukraine is in the eye of the storm.

It’s just a matter of time before full-scale conflict resumes. Perhaps with US combat troops involved and/or shock and awe terror-bombing. Maybe setting the entire continent ablaze.

Megalomania and delusions of grandeur define US ambitions. George Clemenceau once said “(w)ar is too important to be left to the generals.” He should have added rogue politicians like Obama and neocons infesting his administration.

In his State of the Union address, Obama shamelessly accused Russia of “aggression” in Ukraine.

Earlier he said it’s “provable” that “Russian combat forces and tanks” moved into Ukraine.

“(T)hese are the facts. They are provable. They’re not subject to dispute.” No proof whatever was presented. Not earlier. Not now. None exists.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The MMR Vaccine Package Insert – Facts or Fibs?

February 9, 2015

The MMR Vaccine Package Insert – Facts or Fibs?

With all the media ‘fear porn’ about measles that’s been inundating everyone recently, perhaps healthcare consumers ought to know some pertinent facts about the MMR vaccines that their MDs, pediatricians, and health agencies apparently NEGLECT to tell the public as part of what should beproperly informed consent. Later on, I will discuss ‘fear porn’ tactics.

Legally, ethically, and morally, what would be informed medical consent? According to the American Medical Association,

The patient’s right of self-decision can be effectively exercised only if the patient possesses enough information to enable an informed choice. [1] [Emphasis added]

Furthermore, the AMA says,

The patient should make his or her own determination about treatment. The physician’s obligation is to present the medical facts accurately to the patient or to the individual responsible for the patient’s care and to make recommendations for management in accordance with good medical practice. [1] [Emphasis added]

However, all the medical professions apparently practice only partial informed consent since they do not reveal the many health-threatening facts about vaccines as published on each and every vaccine package insert—the MMR vaccine being no exception.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Peak Oil: Statements Aren’t Always Conclusive – Peak Oil Matters

December 13, 2014

Peak Oil: Statements Aren’t Always Conclusive – Peak Oil Matters.

Michael Lynch offered that comment early in a not surprisingly vague article arguing peak oil this past summer. [Not that vague is a new tactic for him. Five years ago, Chris Nelder offered a concise analysis of Lynch’s work, and not much appears to have changed]:

With a background in political science, Lynch puts his rhetorical skills to work as an avid peak oil denier, despite seeming to live in an alternate universe when it comes to the actual data….
He has carried on a vigorous disinformation campaign against peak oil theory for nearly two decades, sticking to his guns despite all factual evidence to the contrary.

For those allergic to facts and reality, it’s easy to understand the consternation expressed by Lynch and his peers. Their antidote—make pronouncements and assume they will serve as the last word—is consistent with their avoid-evidence-at-all-costs approach to a subject with (I assume) unfortunate personal ramifications to their professional efforts.

No doubt adding to their consternation is the fact that some of us poor souls still rely on facts and evidence and reality to make determinations on matters of importance, and “amazingly” we believe that the concepts embraced under the peak oil umbrella are quite believable. We’re willing to review evidence, of course. Without any, however, we remain singularly unimpressed with puffed-up statements which deniers are quick to offer without substantiation.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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