Truth Detection Skills Needed

For thousands of years, written material was so expensive that people could basically trust what was written. When Gutenberg invented movable type, books and propaganda became cheap and people fought wars over competing claims. For years, TV news was trustable but today, "news" stations have people stating things that they know to be false. For years, we have been trained to trust what the computer told us but today, with AI, we can't trust what the computer gives us.

A very important skill today is the ability to find truth amid competing claims. Our "untruth" detectors need to be on high alert especially when hearing something that we want to be true.

Detecting falsehood is very difficult when people say what you want to be true. Con men tell you what you want to be true and do their con while you believe. They assure you that you are being given secret knowledge. Many will try to tell you that you are one of the chosen few to know this. They claim to have "special insights" into lies and conspiracies that they are sharing with you. Then they take money and power from you. It is best to distrust new information that you want to be true.

Many of us have been trained to trust the computer. However, now with AI hallucinations and AI trained on low quality data, the computers are lying to us. People are trying to use AI to write programs and running into the limits. Part of problem is that AI generates wrong answers in such confident language that many people don't catch the misinformation.

AI claims to replace workers. Many a business person wants to have cheap robots instead of workers. But every technological advance has created new jobs to deal with the technology instead of reducing the need for employees.

We have always had people with dubious connection to truth. The nature of trade always has a bit of asymmetric knowledge; the seller most times knows more than the buyer does. We have to trust the seller.

The trust in sellers is being abused again. Certain websites are selling goods produced under questionable labor practices, goods with unsafe levels of toxic materials, and goods promised to be of high quality but are flimsy or even broken. Some websites selling brand name material have mixed in counterfeit versions in with those brand name items. It is getting so bad that some customers are actively looking for other suppliers.

Ever since the first political campaign, political groups have made all sorts of claims about their opponents. The election of 1800 saw newspapers printing severe claims against other candidates. We often welcome hearing the bad things about a candidate we oppose but we have to be very careful as much of these bad things are made up and are not true.

Truth detection has been and will be in short supply. We all need to be wary of claims especially when the claim fits a narrative that we want to be true. We need to be on guard against all sorts of claims.

Go For Quality

Back during the Great Depression, auto sales dropped hard. The result was that automakers tried to out innovate their competition. A simple picture comparison of cars before 1930 and after 1940 shows vast changes in the "standard models". When a business is suffering, focusing on innovation and quality is a better survival strategy than cost cutting.

Many business leaders assume that a business slow down is a temporary event. They naturally respond with cost controls. When the slow down continues, many businesses choose to "tighten their belts" with laying off employees and cutting product or service offerings.

It is not possible to shrink a business to greatness.

Survival often requires the business to develop new products or services. When the market is going through a major upheaval, economic shock, or recession, only new products or services will pull in customers. And such new products or services can't be created by copying someone else. Only by changing the company culture, processes, and philosophy will we get true innovation. This may require changing people, changing overhead, and changing processes. But that is a "strategic retreat" rather than simply "shrinking."

We can't copy into greatness. Copies always wind up being of lessor quality.

Quality will always find customers. Perhaps not at the price point you want. But when seeking the highest quality you can offer, there will always be those who can afford to pay something. In a major market upheaval, getting customers is more important than getting a premium price.

Risky World

Criminals sometimes have far more courage than smarts. A woman attempted to steal Elvis Presley's house through a title change. She was recently sentenced for fraud.