What is Truth?

Most of us are taught fairly early on that truth is subjective.  Our disagreements are what define the human race.

Facts, however, are different.  They are certainly open to interpretation, but we can't simply make up our own facts to suit the truth we believe in.  Distorting facts is the more traditional approach towards getting them to back up your conclusions.  But everything has its limits.

We're seeing a great deal of fact distortion and fact creation all around us.  Behavior that we would expect from toddlers is now commonplace in the halls of Congress and all throughout the media.  And while there's definite humor in all of this, we're well past the point where it's gotten super serious - and deadly.

In the hacker world, questioning is our thing.  We question authority, we question facts, we question the very technologies that we love.  These questions make us stronger and able to design better inventions.  The worst thing a hacker can do is simply follow the rules.  Exposing the truth, however uncomfortable, is what we're all about.  (Ironically, this has made hackers into much more of a perceived threat than they actually are because they like to share the security vulnerabilities they discover, while true criminals know to keep their mouths shut.)

But part of our questioning involves listening to the answers.  We all know that we won't always hear the answers we want.  So how do we handle it when that happens?  There are three ways:

• We can accept what the facts tell us.
• We can ask more questions.
• We can assume the facts are wrong and try things from a different angle.

All three of these approaches are acceptable to a point.  A combination of the first two is generally what we've had the most success with.  It's not healthy to just accept things because that's what you're told.  There will always be more questions to help clarify what it is you're seeking to understand.  This process is a progressive one, where more is learned and a conclusion begins to come into focus.  The third approach isn't necessarily a bad one, especially if you believe that you're not being given all of the information.  However, if it becomes your default reaction, or if you find yourself going back to this repeatedly, it's generally not a good sign.  It's indicative of people who already have their version of the truth defined and are looking to shape facts to suit that truth.

It's particularly annoying to us and to many in the hacker world to be told that we're not asking enough questions or, worse, that we're in league with governments or pharmaceutical companies because we've concluded that the vaccines against the deadly COVID-19 pandemic are safe and effective.  Those who accuse us of such things are angry that we haven't shared their particular version of the truth.  They ignore the fact that we've looked at the evidence, analyzed the science, and listened to the experts who have devoted their lives to this sort of thing.  And it's clearly not the only fact they've ignored.

Throughout this crisis, there have been people who refused to believe it was real.  They wouldn't wear masks.  They wouldn't observe social distancing.  They assumed the whole thing was some sort of global conspiracy whose alleged goals have never been clearly explained.  And now, with a death toll of over 600,000 people in our country alone, more than four million worldwide, their continued attempts to minimize this horror are despicable.  If it continues, we will wind up right back where we started with the very real possibility that the next strain will be even worse.

The vast majority of the hacker community gets this.  We analyze situations constantly and make choices based on the evidence in front of us.  We never follow blindly.  Those who make these accusations want us to do exactly that: follow them blindly without credible evidence.  That won't happen in our community and we need to do everything in our power to make sure it doesn't happen outside our community.  This has nothing at all to do with politics, religion, or anything other than science and logic.  However, if a political or religious ideology attaches itself to illogical and deadly thinking, that's entirely of their own volition.

As with anything, facts change over time.  We've heard the advice from experts evolve from month to month.  This happens when a situation is in flux and we learn more about what's actually occurring.  Strategies get modified as our knowledge base grows.  To point to this as some sort of evidence of wrongdoing is highly irresponsible and could actually encourage important updates to be downplayed due to fear of misinterpretation.  That's not a healthy environment.

Possibly the most disturbing part of all this is hearing of 'breakthrough" cases where fully-vaccinated people come down with - and even die from - COVID-19.  This, incredibly, leads some to conclude that the vaccine doesn't work and isn't worth getting.  In actuality, this is happening in places where the vaccine rate amongst the population is low.  That increases the chance that anyone can get the virus, even those who were vaccinated, albeit at a much lower rate.  But it's not a zero rate.  So people who have done the right thing are literally losing their lives because of people who refuse to look at the facts and listen to the experts.  And, if that's not enough to be upset at, consider that the longer this virus hangs around, the more likely it is that a variant will emerge that is immune from the vaccine entirely and possibly even more deadly.  This is what ignorance and misinformation can produce.

We need to use every skill at our disposal to fight this and save lives.  We want this dark period to end once and for all.  We want our normal lives back.  We saw things improve when guidelines were followed.  We saw drastic decreases in cases once the vaccine arrived.  All of that is at risk and for no reason other than some of us are susceptible to being manipulated into espousing a truth that isn't supported by facts.  Our social media has the ability to be socially responsible.  But it's ultimately up to us to make sure they are.

We have the power to steer things in the direction we need to go.  And that is the truth.