A guy named Edward Snowden was\ninterviewed on the Joe Rogan Experience recently, and here is\nsomething he said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is the context: You say you know, and — you know, let’s put it the other way: maybe you do know. Maybe you are an academic researcher, maybe you’re a technological specialist, maybe you’re just someone who reads all of the reporting and you actually know. You can’t prove it, but you know this is going on. But that’s the thing in a democracy: the distance between speculation and fact. The distance between what you know and what you can prove to everybody else in the country is everything in our model of government — because what you know doesn’t matter; what matters is what we all know … and the only way we can all know it is if someone can prove it, if you can prove it … and if you don’t have the evidence you can’t prove it.<\/p>JRE #1368 1:51:50 – 1:52:35<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nCould we please sit back for a moment\nand ponder that suggestion in the context of science and the\nscientific method? Science can’t prove anything, but what Mr. Snowden\nis suggesting is that evidence can<\/em> — and that it’s the only\nthing<\/em> that can. I realize that many scientists as well as\nnumerous lawyers may very well shake their heads and scoff at such a\nsimplistic confusion of the term “evidence” from two\ncompletely different fields, two completely different traditions, two\nvastly separated realms of knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\nYet what about the millions of men and women in the streets? What does the twitter universe tweet out across the world ad nauseam? Facts, evidence, and insurmountable floods of gossip — wrongdoing, rightdoing, likes, dislikes, regurgitation of suppositions, and whatnot other similar processed foods for thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We live in a land plagued with schizophrenia: on the one hand modern scientists maintain that nothing in the universe can ever be proven, but on the other hand modern journalists provide reams of evidence on a daily basis to prove to the public some facts as undeniable. This daily digest of tidbit proofs is leading to data flooding and causing catastrophic psychological indigestion for the countless global masses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is it possible in this day and age to reconcile these opposite world views, to bring about a little hope for coherence in our data and media diet? Why don’t we presume innocence before bombing the world to smithereens? Why can’t we acknowledge that we don’t<\/em> know? Why not refute the notion of undeniability (is that even a word — how about “incontestability”)? Is there in fact no such thing as a self-evident proof?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A guy named Edward Snowden was interviewed on the Joe Rogan Experience recently, and here is something he said: This is the context: You say you know, and — you know, let’s put it the other way: maybe you do … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[313],"tags":[464,84,553,551,557,539,140,141,540,285,550,542,545,546,21,544,22,547,548,152,549,556,118,284,554,552],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9w79D-2F","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":58,"url":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/2016\/12\/30\/the-rationality-of-uncertainty\/","url_meta":{"origin":165,"position":0},"title":"The Rationality of Uncertainty","author":"nmw","date":"December 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When I was learning science in high school, I was mesmerized by the notion that scientific facts were true, myths were false, and there were still things that needed to be \u201efigured out\u201c. I was very impressed by the way computers were all about 1's and 0's (it wasn't until\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "remediary"","block_context":{"text":"remediary","link":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/topicat\/com\/com-remediary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/12\/dontknow.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/12\/dontknow.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/12\/dontknow.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/12\/dontknow.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":69,"url":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/2017\/04\/16\/scripts-stories-narratives-filling-in-the-gaps-without-resorting-to-fake-news-and-other-propaganda-techniques\/","url_meta":{"origin":165,"position":1},"title":"Scripts, Stories, Narratives, Filling in the Gaps without Resorting to Fake News and other Propaganda Techniques","author":"nmw","date":"April 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I have recently been minding my gaping gap and just the other day I was talking with someone about filling in the gaps, so I've decided to give you all a what's update (I'm thinking that could maybe catch on sometime as a new term, sort of like all gangsta\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "remediary"","block_context":{"text":"remediary","link":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/topicat\/com\/com-remediary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31,"url":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/2016\/10\/15\/the-rationality-of-intimacy\/","url_meta":{"origin":165,"position":2},"title":"The Rationality of Intimacy","author":"nmw","date":"October 15, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I can imagine many people might think the title of this post means it will be all about love, sex and such. Well, not exactly. It's about relationships \u2013 but not merely limited to the exclusive kind of relationship two lovers who might be married might have. It also isn't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "remediary"","block_context":{"text":"remediary","link":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/topicat\/com\/com-remediary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":158,"url":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/2019\/07\/09\/re-on-bullshit\/","url_meta":{"origin":165,"position":3},"title":"RE: On Bullshit","author":"nmw","date":"July 9, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"A friend of mine recently mentioned he has back-ordered \u201cOn Bullshit\u201d (by Harry Frankfurt) and I thought \u201coh neat \u2013 maybe I can borrow it sometime for a day or two\u201d... but then I realized something. Bullshit is not rare or special or in any way particular. It is widespread.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "remediary"","block_context":{"text":"remediary","link":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/topicat\/com\/com-remediary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23,"url":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/2016\/09\/12\/the-rationality-of-buzz\/","url_meta":{"origin":165,"position":4},"title":"The Rationality of Buzz","author":"nmw","date":"September 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"It's early on a Monday morning \u2013 I would say \u201cbright and early\u201d, but it's so early that the sun is still nowhere in sight. At any rate, the week is about to begin and so I figure it's a good time to think about the barrage of buzz that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "remediary"","block_context":{"text":"remediary","link":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/topicat\/com\/com-remediary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":80,"url":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/2017\/05\/20\/reading-writing-communications\/","url_meta":{"origin":165,"position":5},"title":"Reading, Writing + Communications","author":"nmw","date":"May 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Five centuries ago (more or less, depending on when you actually read this), Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 Theses to the church door. In the weeks, months and years that followed, one of the most influential publications of the Protestant Reformation was propagated across Europe. Yet, in my opinion,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "impost"","block_context":{"text":"impost","link":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/topicat\/org\/org-impost\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":172,"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165\/revisions\/172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pro.freezine.org\/remediary0com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}