Why?
Prior to Modernism, society generally held truth to be unalterable, absolute, and universal. Modernism began to question commonly held beliefs—religion, laws, aesthetics, and so on. Post-modernism threw Truth (capital “T”) out the window. It is now said that we live in a post-truth world. The Oxford Dictionaries noticed at 2000% spike in the use of the term “post-truth” in 2016 over 2015, and so declared it the word of the year in 2016. They define post-truth as an adjective “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” This set of readings covers truth, post-truth, and how truth directly ties to design work.
Required
Supplementary Readings
- Post-Truth
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Breaking News, Radiolab
“Simon Adler takes us down a technological rabbit hole of strangely contorted faces and words made out of thin air. And a wonderland full of computer scientists, journalists, and digital detectives forces us to rethink even the things we see with our very own eyes.”Are We Living in a Post-truth Era? Yes, but That’s Because We’re a Post-truth Species, ideas.ted.com
“A cursory look at history reveals that propaganda and disinformation are nothing new. In fact, humans have always lived in the age of post-truth. Homo sapiens is a post-truth species, who conquered this planet thanks above all to the unique human ability to create and spread fictions. We are the only mammals that can cooperate with numerous strangers because only we can invent fictional stories, spread them around, and convince millions of others to believe in them. As long as everybody believes in the same fictions, we all obey the same laws and can thereby cooperate effectively.”Truth Isn’t the Problem—We Are, The Wall Street Journal
“The term ‘post-truth’ has been around for decades, but its big moment came in 2016, with the Brexit vote in the U.K. and the presidential candidacy of Donald Trump. Usage of post-truth shot up twentyfold, according to the Oxford Dictionaries, which chose it as the 'word of the year’ for 2016. Since then, the term has become a commonplace in political commentary. It is not applied approvingly. To dub ours the era of post-truth is not to praise it.”On Being Genuine, ChurchofJesusChrist.org
“Although modern historians have questioned the truthfulness of this story, the term ‘Potemkin village’ has entered the world’s vocabulary. It now refers to any attempt to make others believe we are better than we really are.” - Truth in Graphic Design
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Infographics Lie. Here’s How To Spot The B.S., Fast Company
“Time and time again we have seen that data visualizations can easily be manipulated to lie. By misrepresenting, altering, or faking the data they visualize, data scientists can twist public opinion to their benefit and even profit at our expense.”Are Some Fonts More Believable Than Others?, Fast Company
“Are some fonts more believable than others? A curious experiment by documentary filmmaker Errol Morris suggests as much. After polling approximately 45,000 unsuspecting readers on nytimes.com, Morris discovered that subjects were more likely to believe a statement when it was written in Baskerville than when it was written in Computer Modern, Georgia, Helvetica, Trebuchet, or Comic Sans. Baskerville: truth’s favorite typeface?”Errol Morris: How Typography Shapes Our Perception Of Truth, Fast Company
“The results of Morris’s experiment were published online in a two-part essay called Hear, All Ye People; Hearken, O Earth! and have now been put into print, as the 44th edition of the Pentagram Papers, the monograph that the design firm Pentagram sends to an exclusive list of individuals each year. Pentagram partner and long-time Morris collaborator Michael Bierut put together the typographically exquisite monograph, with with the help of designer Jessica Svendsen.Hear, All Ye People; Hearken, O Earth (Part 1), The New York Times
“My quiz wasn’t really a test of the optimism or pessimism of the reader. There was a hidden agenda. It was a test of the effect of typefaces on truth. Or to be precise, the effect on credulity. Are there certain typefaces that compel a belief that the sentences they are written in are true?”
Part II: “Hear, All Ye People; Hearken, O Earth (Part 2)”
The original quiz: “Are You an Optimist or a Pessimist?”
- Truth in Illustration
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I have not found any solid writings concerning truth and illlustration, so please send anything you find my way.
- Truth in Photography
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Posing Questions of Photographic Ethics, The New York Times
“During this year’s World Press photo contest, about 20 percent of the entrants that reached the second-to-last round of judging were disqualified for significantly altering images in post processing and Giovanni Troilo was stripped of a first prize in the face of charges of misrepresentation and posing images (the photographer said he had ‘made a mistake,’ but had not intended to deceive). In the vigorous debate that followed, some ridiculed the concept of 'objective photojournalism’ as philosophically tenuous in a postmodern world.”Why Facts Aren’t Always Truths in Photography, Time
“Steve McCurry, a photographer who has reached iconic status following the publication of his Afghan Girl portrait in National Geographic in 1985, has found himself at the center of a controversy over image manipulation. The Magnum member is accused of photoshopping elements out of his photographs—a ‘mistake’ McCurry has blamed on bad procedures at his studio.”Staging, Manipulation and Truth in Photography, The New York Times
“During this year’s tumultuous World Press photo competition, a large number of images were disqualified because of manipulation or excessive digital postprocessing. In addition, one major prize was revoked amid allegations of staging and misleading captioning. These events sparked months of spirited discussion and introspection about ethical practices in photojournalism. In response, the World Press organization is changing its rules for next year’s contest and creating a code of ethics for photographers entering the contest. […] To further the conversation on these ethical concerns, Lens asked several photographers and editors to comment on the issue and to share their experiences in the field. After reading those essays, we invite you to add your thoughts about staging journalistic photos in the comments below. We will add selected comments of fewer than 250 words to this text to further the conversation.”Fauxtography, Snopes
“Numerous photographs and videos circulate on the Internet. Some are real. Some are fake. Some are real, but have been given false backstories.
Response Questions
Remember to cite specific instances from the text to support your views.
- Consider Picasso’s quote, “We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth, at least the truth that is given us to understand. The artist must know the manner whereby to convince others of the truthfulness of his lies. If he only shows in his work that he has searched, and re-searched, for the way to put over lies, he would never accomplish anything.” Combined with the information from the readings, what do you make of this?
- How might the notion of epistemic responsibility impact your work in your field?
- Members of the Church believe the words of Moroni when he states that “by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.” How might science, logic, reason, and facts play into this belief system? For example, the Church has always been pro-science (Orson Pratt taught astronomy courses in the 1850s, an astronomical observatory was built on the south-east corner of Temple Square in 1869, our current prophet is a physician who believes in vaccinations, and BYU actively teaches evolution). Does a personal belief always trump science or vice versa? Why or why not?
