7/21/24
All Are Created Equal
This is number seventy-one in the blog series, “My Life in Erotica.” I encourage you to join my Patreon community to support my writing.
I’M TOYING WITH A CONCEPT for a new story that has been on my mind for seven years now. That’s what I get for sifting through my ‘Idea File.’ I was driving for an hour or so recently and this came bubbling up. Mostly I’ll give you this bit without an explanation, except to say that the story idea takes place in the distant future. (A hundred years? A thousand?) Long enough for evolution to have an effect on who we are, understanding that we already have 800,000 of those years as a species behind us. But many of the questions remain the same.
Living beings are all equal in value. As we discovered in the early twenty-first century, bees are vital to our existence. Who would think the annoying little creatures would have been so valuable? But we were nearly too late to restore the population. Plants were dying and without them, oxygen was being depleted.
That doesn’t mean all creatures are intelligent. It doesn’t mean some creatures aren’t food for others. It simply means that we all have an equal importance in the ecology of earth. When a being self-evaluates as more important than others, it is always limited to how important they are to themselves.
Information is not like that. All information is not created equal. It is up to the processing mechanism—you and me—to evaluate the information regarding its importance and veracity. How do we do that?
First and foremost, we need to discover if the information is true. It may surprise some of you to find that much information available to you today is based on or contains outright lies. The great invention of artificial intelligence was significant in propagating false information. It presented answers that were based solely on the popularity of responses and did no evaluation as to the truth or falsehood of the information. Even though we have learned to discount much of the machine-based information, we are not very good at evaluating it for ourselves.
So how do we discover whether the information is true? This seems like an overwhelming task at times. Can we all do primary research to get to the source of information? Of course not. So, we need to start by evaluating the immediate source. Is it reliable?
When an upright and dependable source is found to have presented information that seems unbelievable, and another source that is known to propagate lies declares the opposite, do we believe the unbelievable information from the reliable source, or the believable information from the known liar? Truth is not an easy path to follow, or even to discover.
We can test the information if it is empirical. How do we know one plus one equals two? If I place a walnut in each of my hands, I have one plus one. I can place them on the table and count them: one, two. The information that one plus one equals two is testable. I can prove it. And because one plus one equals two, I can plot the trajectory of a rocket and the amount of propulsion needed to reach orbit. It is true.
Unfortunately, terabytes of believable data are not testable by these standards. At that point, we must look at the information environment. Is this information consistent with other information that is known and tested. Interpersonal relationships frequently flounder because an inconsistent bit of information is given priority over bytes of contrary evidence.
Finally, we try the information with a jury that is knowledgeable in the field. The jury must evaluate all these things, bringing to the table their knowledge and experience to determine the reliability of the information. Understand, however, that they cannot supply validation that the information is true. They can only indicate that based on these criteria, the information is believable until otherwise discredited.
My first stab at writing a novel had to wait thirty years before I matured enough to read and edit the story for public consumption. The Props Master Series resulted, and it is possible that I will manage to complete the next volume sometime this year.
In Behind the Ivory Veil, both Rebecca and Wesley have to confront information that is contrary to their understanding of the world—especially as staunchly conservative Christians. Rebecca is plunged into initiation and training in a pagan circle that has existed for hundreds of years. Wesley sees Greek mythology come to life and is trapped by the goddess he thought was just a story.
Functioning with the information they had drilled into them from the beginning of their lives in the 1930s, they both have to evaluate new data that changes their worldview completely.
In many instances, people reject the evidence of their own hands and eyes in favor of information that has been believed for years. A generation later, in Ritual Reality, Wayne struggles with the same conflict of information, denying the evidence in front of him because it is impossible.
And finally, in A Touch of Magic, Paul’s belief that he is just good at sleight of hand is challenged by the reality of his journey to another dimension in order to save his lover’s father. He must recognize her healing power and the great cost it extracts.
The Props Master Series is available both as a collection and as individual eBooks at Bookapy.
Ah! But what do we do with true information? This is a difficult phase of information evaluation. Being true is not an indication of value, it is simply a gating factor. The next phase of our evaluation is whether the information is necessary or important. Understand that true information can be used to skew conclusions that would otherwise be absurd.
You might hear someone say, “I saw your mate come out of that apartment building. My mate lives in that building.” If that is all the information, it can lead to anxiety and conflict. The information by itself is neither necessary nor important. No matter what a thoughtful investigation concludes, the information is irrelevant.
This is closely related to the third criterion: Is the information hurtful? Spreading true information that might even be important is often hurtful. I say to you, this speaks far more about your character than about the veracity of the information. Is this information so important or so necessary that it is worth hurting another living being?
So, understand that even though the bee is as important to our ecology as a person, not all information is equal. Weigh what you think you know against these standards and we will live in peace.
If the bug about this story continues to bite me, I may continue other aspects of this future world as they come to me. Next week, “Ephemeralization.”
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
