Simplification of Philosophy: Trust

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Who can you trust in this world of internet swindlers and scams?

I offered to help poor students from poor countries to ask their Facebook friends for help in paying their school fees. The only condition I imposed was that they provide a reference from the principal of their school and a list of the cost of the school materials that they needed.

Only one student was able to fulfill my conditions. Despite that, many of my friends suspected the student of being a scam, and suspected me of being naïve to trust him.

Who can you trust? Bitcoin, the "internet money you can trust", has developed the distributed ledger called “blockchain” that claims to achieve “trust” in a trustless environment. To ensure that this internet money is “honest”, it does this by using:

“proof of work”,

“consensus”, and

“encryption.”

But what about trusting people?

It can take a lifetime to build up trust, but just one little lie to break it.

With children, it is easy to tell who is fibbing by just looking at whose ears are turning bright red. With adults -

especially professional politicians, lawyers, bankers, and salesmen, it is not so easy.

Even the media,

the church, and

the scientists who claim to be neutral and pure have their own interests to uphold and cannot be trusted.

We are bombarded by “he said, she said” accusations between president Trump and the main stream media with each accusing the other of lying. Just like “beauty” is in the eyes of the beholder, “truth” is in the mind of the believer. People believe whomever they want to believe.

Can you trust politicians?

When I want to determine whom to believe, Trump or the media, I cannot look at red ears but I am forced to look at the following factors, their reaction when:

they are accused of lying, and
their past lies are uncovered.

The reactions of both Trump and the media are the same.

denial,
blame,
distraction,
lack of transparency and
lack of admission.

Can you trust scientists?

A few years ago, scientists claimed that:

smoking was harmless,
margarine full with trans fats were healthy,
mercury filled amalgams were the best fillings to fill caries and
cannabis use was so dangerous that users must be jailed.

Now scientists claim that:

artificial sweeteners help lose weight,
fluoridated water helps against caries,
GMOs help feed the hungry, and
cell phone use is harmless.

Scientists will prove with numbers anything they are paid to prove because with numbers, anything can be proved. Greed will always corrupt and people will always be gullible. The only hope is brave people who expose lies and having an open mind so that brainwashed brains can be flushed clean.

Where does that leave us?

Because everything in this world is based on consumerism, we consumers have the ultimate vote of who to trust by voting with our wallets. This way we can personally vote a consensus anonymously and collectively decide who and what deserves our trust.

Humanity in this ever shrinking world faces many threats to its long-term well being. Some claim our greatest threat is the manipulation of the genetic code. Others claim it is the manipulation of the climate. And there are those who warn us of allowing computers to surpass our own feeble intelligence. Many claim the greatest threat is greed and corruption which are inherent traits of humanity that are futile to try to change.

I believe that one of the greatest threats to mankind is brainwashing which humans are so prone to fall victim to. The media has become the message. We are bombarded with propaganda that numb us to believe lies that are changing our value system and our morality. We are distracted by sports and entertainment. The only way left for us to fight back against this is to vote with our wallets. But when we are brainwashed to false beliefs, we end up wasting our vote.

Who can we believe? Who can we trust?