Jefferson Veliz

Professor Mark Jamison

FIQWS

17 October 2018

What is real or fake?

Why it has become more difficult to differentiate what’s real or what’s fake? The ted talk “How to see past your own perspective and find truth” by Michael Patrick Lynch describes an argument about the dilemma on how the more information we access online, it becomes difficult for us to know if it’s real or fake. In modern society, new technologies such as the internet wise have makes us perceive more but comprehend less. In other words, thanks to the internet, we know more information about the world, however, the problem is if we understand the information. I agree with Michael Patrick’s view and argument on knowledge polarization because we tend to believe whatever we read on the internet, which may become our truth without really understanding it.

Based on the video, Patrick discusses how the internet has influenced us in everyday life and how we are relying more and more into it. The problem with being able to access information is that it is personalized. In other words, it is information we want to see. Just because we get information from online, it does not mean it is more reliable. This problem is known as knowledge polarization because even though we know more, we understand less, and we are unable to understand what is real and fake. Patrick says that people on Google and Facebook are working on solving the problem to make it less polarized; however, solving technology will not solve the problem. Furthermore, a connection to a philological idea is needed to solve knowledge polarization. It is “the idea of common reality”.  Patrick offers three ways to solve common reality: first, is to believe in truth, to know the facts. Second, is to dare to know for yourself, to take a step further to understand the information. Third, is to have humility, to know you do not know everything.

Patrick states a good point on saying every time people want information, they download information without understanding any content. Most of the facts, ideas, and information people get it from the internet. This relates to modern life issues there is in society. Most people believe that the information they see on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are reliable. Social media are mostly secondary source information, which means not everything are facts. For example, some of my friends believe anything that social media or Google says without knowing if the content is real or fake. Another example is when we are looking for math answers online. In my experience, sometimes I search for answers without understanding how to do the problem, but it leads to consequences like not doing well in an exam.

One part of the video that caught my attention was when he says, “The thought protagonist police men O’Brian is torturing the protagonist Winston Smith to make him believe that four plus four equals five”.  This is a good point of how people can persuade others. One example of this can be political parties. When candidates are running for president, many people start believing each word that is being said by the candidates. For instance, when Donald trump described Mexicans during his election as rapist and criminals, created many of conflicts across the nation, that People started believing that was the truth. Since that day, some part of our population started to identify Mexicans as rapists and criminals. In addition, another example is the new president from Ecuador, Lenin Moreno, he made promises to people in need. All of his promises became the reason to be picked as the president of Ecuador; however, most of the population in Ecuador are protesting him for not keeping his word.

 

The structure of Patrick’s speech is similar to an argumentative essay. When he began his speech, he had a purpose to talk about the issue of knowledge polarization. Then, he transitioned into details about the ideas on how we seek information online, and do not understand the meaning of it, as well as, ways to solve the problem. This is a wakeup call for internet users who go online just to get information. This connects to the rhetorical situations discussed in class because of the tone and the attitude he used to express himself about the topic. The words used on his speech made it sound objective and persuasive on why people should look deeper to the information online to comprehend the content better.

In conclusion, when we search information online, most of the time people do not know if they are real or fake. It seems like the more we read online, the more difficult it becomes for people to know what’s real. Social medias are customized to satisfy our own preferences by ads.  This affects people and internet users to distinguish between real or fake. People should take their time to explore what is real or fake instead of just getting information without understanding it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works cited

Lynch, Michael Patrick. TED: Ideas Worth Spreading, www.ted.com/talks/michael_patrick_lynch_how_to_see_past_your_own_perspective_and_find_truth?language=en.