- Carl Sagan

When discerning truth to achieve justice, there are 2 signals: testimony and evidence.

Testimony is the sharing of experience.

It can be spoken or written.

In a court of law, testimony is a form of evidence, as a first-hand account of fact by a witness.

Yet testimony is subject to the credibility of the witness, and to the judgment of an audience.

The witness could lie.

Or they could leave out relevant details and important context.

The audience (or jury) could reject the true testimony of a non-credible person.

Or the judge could be biased against the accused and make the proceedings more difficult.

How can a justice system be guilty of convicting so many innocent people?1

The critical flaw of testimony is human intent.

Evidence is information the senses perceive in observable reality.

It is concrete. It is tangible.

Some examples of evidence are:

- A photograph.

- Documentation of a financial transaction.

- An audio recording of a phone call.

- Data from sensors.

Yet the way evidence is presented affects its perception and interpretation.

This is framing.

Skillful lawyers can present evidence in a frame to align with innocence or guilt.

Journalists can weave a narrative to affect how you believe an event happened.

Advertisers can create messages to influence the general perception of a person or brand.

Artificial Intelligence has enabled the creation of “Deep Fakes.”2

It will soon be hard to know what is real and what is “f.e.a.r.” - false evidence appearing real.

The human mind makes sense of information by creating a pattern.3

As an example, here are pieces of evidence:

1. A photograph of Susan and John together, smiling at a restaurant.

2. A receipt with two entrées, two beverages and one dessert.

3. A text from Susan to John "Pick me up at 6pm outside the office."

4. A text from Bob to Susan at 11pm saying "Where are you? The children are in bed."

What is the truth about the situation?

Our minds fill in the gaps to create a possible story.

What if you learned that Bob is Susan's brother?

He offered to babysit for his sister and her husband as a favor. It’s their anniversary and the scheduled babysitter was sick.

He has a late night conference with a team in Asia soon, and Susan said they’d be back at 10:30.

This new information widens our understanding.

Our perspective changes.

The critical flaw of evidence is human perception.

Discerning the truth means casting light across all crevices so that as many facts, motives, and probabilities are illuminated.

Only then can we reason what is true with a degree of certainty.

Evidence and testimony are merely signals.

3rd Eye 👁️ Mind 🧠

Solve puzzles, see hidden meaning, and understand esoteric knowledge.

(Solution at end of post)

Image Riddle:

This band started in the late 1960s with songs including one about a lonely number.

Higher ⛰️ Self 👤

Grow in health, wealth, relationships, and autonomy.

Awesome ❤️‍🔥 Makers 🙌 

Learn from inspired creators in business, technology, science, and culture.

With all the fervor and speed of AI it can seem like magic.

Yet when something complex is explained clearly and simply, it can be understood.

Andrej Karpathy’s Intro to Large Language Models (LLMs) is an excellent primer.

Make Everything Awesome is for reasonable folks who aspire to raise the consciousness of humanity and build a world we want to live in.

Thank you for reading. Be blessed!

- Aaron Richmond

3rd Eye Mind (solution):

Three Dog Night.

A dog is framed in a triangle (3 sides) with the night sky in the background.

- Pontius Pilate to Jesus of Nazareth (John 18:38).

The Truth, defined simply, is.

It exists.

You are reading this sentence is truth.

The Truth is also what was.

You have read the prior sentence is truth.

Note this statement is true now, it was true a moment ago, and will forever be true.

You have read these words. It is what happened.

Note too that despite no one else knowing this is true, it is true.

You could tell someone else this fact and maybe they would believe you.

Maybe they would test you to ensure the validity of your statement.

Or maybe they would say you are lying.

Maybe they would make a commercial saying you were a liar, and broadcast it to thousands of people.

And yet what you said is true. You did read the words.

The point is that The Truth is not determined by consensus, or an authority figure, or even perception.

The Truth is.

And always will be.

G. K. Chesterton replied: “I am.”

According to legend, The Times of London submitted this question to famous authors of the day. This was the early 20th century.

Chesterton showed self-awareness and personal responsibility in his answer.

He echoed the famous call to action attributed to Mahatma Gandhi: "Be the change you want to see in the world."

Why is this important?

Because even if these quotes are fiction, they contain wisdom.

What we experience on Earth is the sum total of all human action - trillions of individual choices.

This is a central thesis of the landmark book on economics, Human Action, by Ludwig Von Mises.

Alfred Adler built his entire philosophy of psychology on a related premise. “All problems are human problems,” aside from accidents and acts of nature.

So if it is true that "all problems are human problems" then it is possible to solve them.

We have a responsibility to do so.

Yet to address "what's wrong with the world" we must get to the foundation - the root cause - to change the effects.

As an individual, this requires self-reflection.

It requires understanding how we formulated our worldview.

It requires reasoning and creative thinking from first principles.

While difficult, we may have to admit we were wrong.

Each of us holds an epigenetic basket of talents.

If we cultivate these gifts, we can achieve a good life.

Adler believed we must contribute to others to overcome our sense of inferiority.

By creating value from our abilities, we achieve a sense of belonging and fulfillment.

What is true? What is just?

As a society, answering these questions requires reasonable people. Or as I like to say, reasonable folks.

If we know what is true and just, then we can solve what is wrong with the world.

But it takes courage.

We can choose a world of chaos, scarcity, and suffering.

Or we can choose a world of justice, abundance, and beauty.

We will achieve our potential as a society by sharing 2 simple intrinsic human values:

1. Natural Law Rights.

We must have a foundation of morality that makes it easy for anyone to determine what is right and what is wrong.

Natural Law is an elegant, simple foundation for justice.

2. Discernment of Truth.

If we can discern what is true then we can achieve common ground in our disagreements.

The Trivium is an ancient method for arriving at what is true and false. Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric. The Scientific Method.

What we experience, and what others experience, is "experiential truth."

It is not true for everyone, yet it feels like truth to us.

Understanding the difference between truth and experience will improve our relationships.

Make Everything Awesome is a mission.

The 2 principal values above are essential for a society to flourish.

The mission will be a success if a majority of humans understand and practice them.

Yet I hope for even more.

Imagine a humanity with liberty and justice for all. One that extends to planets in other galaxies.

Imagine your lineage enjoying space travel and cultures across the universe.

There will always be evil in the world. Yet injustice will become rare when courage and wisdom become common.

Those of you who feel called can raise the consciousness of humanity.

You can fix what’s wrong with the world.

One problem, one soul at a time, we will Make Everything Awesome.