The Post-Modernity and the Post-truth world !
Science can become a big time nuisance in a highly polarized and politically charged landscape. Instead of revealing the truth, science can be put to use for manipulation; to create waves of public opinion, causing trust to fluctuate between "yeses" and "noes" with each new development.
Scientists understand that science comes in different forms, broadly classified as imperfect and perfect science. Perfect science is typically applied in fields like space rocketry, whereas imperfect science is more prevalent in areas like forensics, archaeology, and medicine.
The issue is that this nuance is not widely understood beyond academic circles. Many people, despite valuing science, and having huge devotion towards it, may still not be aware of its complexities and limitations. Shrewd politicians can exploit this knowledge gap by tactfully presenting new "data" (often misconstrued as "facts") to manipulate public opinion, leveraging the imperfections in certain scientific fields.
The post above is one living example of how the science, which is of imperfect nature, is being abused and exploited, to swing the opinions.
Scientists understand that science comes in different forms, broadly classified as imperfect and perfect science. Perfect science is typically applied in fields like space rocketry, whereas imperfect science is more prevalent in areas like forensics, archaeology, and medicine.
The issue is that this nuance is not widely understood beyond academic circles. Many people, despite valuing science, and having huge devotion towards it, may still not be aware of its complexities and limitations. Shrewd politicians can exploit this knowledge gap by tactfully presenting new "data" (often misconstrued as "facts") to manipulate public opinion, leveraging the imperfections in certain scientific fields.
The post above is one living example of how the science, which is of imperfect nature, is being abused and exploited, to swing the opinions.
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The current epoch in politics is no longer referred to as "modern" by scholars of Cultural Studies and Philosophy. According to them, the "modern" period spanned from the Industrial Revolution to the emergence of the internet. The term "modernity" describes the era when scientific seeds began to sprout, eradicating ignorance, practises of occultism and superstitions that had long plagued humanity. The humanity was struggling to make its survival in the "dark ages". And, with "modernity" came the sciences, when that era of superstitions and ignorance began to fade away as a the lamp of knowledge was lit to lead the progress of humanity. The Sciences brought with them the understanding of truth in a new way.
During modernity, science brought about a new understanding of truth, dispelling darkness and guiding human progress. However, cultural studies scholars argue that this "modernity" period has now ended with the rise of the internet and AI, ushering in the "post-modernity" era. In this era, science is often used not to reveal truth but to create "alternate truths."
In the vocabulary of "modernity", these 'alternate truth's would have been labeled as "lies". Yet, in the current era, scientific advancements have already outsmarted the mind of most the humanity, and made it increasingly convenient to craft "undefeatable" proofs and evidences which can be used to manipulate the previously existing evidence and proofs with extreme ease. This situation has made blurring the lines between truth and falsehood. As a result, the concept of "lie" has given way to "alternate truth," where the act of presenting false information is no longer considered wrong but rather a necessity and convenience.
This phenomenon is particularly evident in politics, where scientific evidence can be manipulated to support conflicting narratives. For instance, a gunshot incident could be proven to be either an attack by a particular group or a staged event, depending on the narrative being promoted. With the tools of AI and the internet, this process can be repeated virtually infinite times.
This sub-genre era of post-modernity, characterized by the unsteadiness of truth, is aptly termed the "post-truth" era. In this era, truth vacillates like a pendulum, making and keeps shifting away from a position and returning to it, every now and then, an infinite number of times.
The current epoch in politics is no longer referred to as "modern" by scholars of Cultural Studies and Philosophy. According to them, the "modern" period spanned from the Industrial Revolution to the emergence of the internet. The term "modernity" describes the era when scientific seeds began to sprout, eradicating ignorance, practises of occultism and superstitions that had long plagued humanity. The humanity was struggling to make its survival in the "dark ages". And, with "modernity" came the sciences, when that era of superstitions and ignorance began to fade away as a the lamp of knowledge was lit to lead the progress of humanity. The Sciences brought with them the understanding of truth in a new way.
During modernity, science brought about a new understanding of truth, dispelling darkness and guiding human progress. However, cultural studies scholars argue that this "modernity" period has now ended with the rise of the internet and AI, ushering in the "post-modernity" era. In this era, science is often used not to reveal truth but to create "alternate truths."
In the vocabulary of "modernity", these 'alternate truth's would have been labeled as "lies". Yet, in the current era, scientific advancements have already outsmarted the mind of most the humanity, and made it increasingly convenient to craft "undefeatable" proofs and evidences which can be used to manipulate the previously existing evidence and proofs with extreme ease. This situation has made blurring the lines between truth and falsehood. As a result, the concept of "lie" has given way to "alternate truth," where the act of presenting false information is no longer considered wrong but rather a necessity and convenience.
This phenomenon is particularly evident in politics, where scientific evidence can be manipulated to support conflicting narratives. For instance, a gunshot incident could be proven to be either an attack by a particular group or a staged event, depending on the narrative being promoted. With the tools of AI and the internet, this process can be repeated virtually infinite times.
This sub-genre era of post-modernity, characterized by the unsteadiness of truth, is aptly termed the "post-truth" era. In this era, truth vacillates like a pendulum, making and keeps shifting away from a position and returning to it, every now and then, an infinite number of times.
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