Believe what you will

In this week’s Time Magazine is an interesting article on myths and facts that caught my attention. It explains how a significant number of people (in the US, but presumably also elsewhere) loves conspiracy theories. According to the article, the trust in facts is dwindling as more facts become readily available to everybody (e.g. through media like the internet). Essentially, one can pick and choose what appears to support one’s own prejudiced theory of the world. When challenged with more facts that contradict this theory, people seem to hold on to their theory even more strongly (especially if the new facts are provided by experts).

I was a bit reminded of the discussions in our own field of cryo-EM concerning resolution, quality measurement, and interpretation of map details. There too, people sometimes appear to pick whatever is convenient, instead of trying far and foremost to be truthful. Maybe facts are so plentiful these days that they have become a commodity that can be consumed just like a good beer or movie. To extrapolate, maybe one should make the facts fit more closely the consumers’ demands…