[meowkit]

You can’t quantity or even know “objective truth”. We can get really close for somethings, but knowing objective truth is akin to being a god. At the end of the day, everything is a model relying on some axioms.

Inter subjective truth, however, can be reached and is what we rely on most (a dollar bill is a fancy piece of cloth, but we all agree its worth a dollar). It is reached through consensus making.

Gathering a consensus is traditionally done through government or hierarchy, ultimately leading up to a single human or single groups input as “truth”. This method has continually begun to disintegrate as communication tech gets better (printing press -> mobile phone internet).

So the solution, to me, is to create consensus systems that rely on the input of many - use the law of large numbers, economic incentives, and the kaleidoscope of subjective truths to reach the most accurate objective truth we can.

[simplify]

It's true that society uses consensus as a proxy for truth. Even when scientists make a new discovery, it isn't considered "truth" until they convince the community – sometimes even taking decades!

Sadly, this consensus can be manufactured by those in power. Censorship helps to a surprising degree, for example. Social media sock puppets, astroturfing, bribery, the list goes on.

How do we fight against manufactured consent? Is it even possible at this point?

[elevaet]

Yeah this is the crux of it isn't it? And it's not just the problem of manufactured consent either, there is also the problem of mistaken consent that grows organically out of human frailties like our cognitive biases and appetites for drama.

[hsndmoose]

Yes thank you. Between this and your other comment to me in this thread I think you've really gotten to the heart of it. I appreciate you putting into concise words what was rumbling around in my head when I first asked the question.

[elevaet]

It's a joy to hear that someone else has made sense out of what has been rumbling around in my own head a lot lately.

[omniglottal]

But what then of the tyranny of the majority, lemon mentality being itself reinforcing? This cannot be know as anything but an agreed truth, or one applicable only to a greater objective, but never The Objective Truth. We need to embrace conflict and mutual exclusion to recognize more nuanced aspects which are relevant and "truthful" for a minority too.