I keep wondering about that. Will "truth on demand" make us all free? Does truth on demand even exist? For that matter - does truth as a single objective thing exist? And if so: what the heck is it?

I mean, let us look at the internet as it is right now: ask a question and you will get 20 different answers from 15 different people. How do you find out which of these opinions is the truth? I know how most people do it (and how I probably do it): they choose the answer which confirms what they already believe.

Look at the media: how can we confirm for ourselves that it is actually true what they show us? Is there really a war going on in Afghanistan? Is there actually a person who calls himself Osama bin Laden? Or is he just a cheap C-Rate actor who poses for either the Taliban or the US, just so they have someone to point to? Who can answer that without the shadow of a doubt? I know I can't.

And as technology advances and ever more people climb out of the primordial soup of "Ooo, where do I have to click to see porn?" and become technology savant it will become harder and harder to distinguish truth from lie (may it be intentional or not).

Another example: take "Waldo", the guy who apparently was taken a picture of on top of the WTC seconds before the first plane impacted. That picture went through the net like a greased beaver through an oil pit. It created its own mythology, its own meme, its own history. And it wasn't an especially impressive fake, either. It was just very good social engeneering. Still, a fake triumphed over the truth, and I am pretty sure that even now many people are not aware that it was in fact a fake. Many people still believe all the urban legends about Spiders in Banana chests or genetic manipulated chickens used by KFC. And these things have been out in the clear for YEARS now. "Waldo" will keep on amazing people for many years to come and no amount of "truth on demand" will set these people free.

To get this rant to an end I want to quote one of my favourite writers, Vernor Vinge, from his Book "A Fire upon the Deep" where he describes (beside the story in itself) a network spanning the universe not much unlike usenet:

"And so it went. Tens of thousands of messages, hundreds of points of views. It was not called the Net of a Million Lies for nothing."

PS: Why is this in "Support Center"? Shouldn't we move it to "Rant"?