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We must stop killing each other over conflicting stories.
Many of us are aware of that we are drowning in too much conflicting information. On top of crises of war, pandemic, climate change, overpopulation, and wealth inequality, all of which are complexly related, we have a crisis of communication. From a flood of broadcast and social-media stories purporting to give us useful information on which to base our individual actions, how do we choose which stories to believe?
In earlier times, and still in some places like North Korea, people have had little choice of how they got information. They had to rely on a few authorities who claimed to know more than they themselves did, and often claimed to know more than they, the authorities, did.
Now, especially with the internet, but also with multiple broadcast media in many places, we have more choice of information sources.
Then there is how we choose to receive information from sources that we trust. We can let them push stories at us, often repetitively, or we can pull stories from them, which requires more action by us individually. Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages.
Most of us choose some sources, from CNN, Fox News, BBC, RT, and many more, including people and companies on social media that we follow and email senders that…
