Truth, Deception, and Beliefs: Lessons Learned

 As the course comes to an end, I thought I would create my final blog around my overall takeaways from studying truth concepts throughout the semester. 

One thing I've learned is just basic awareness that all humans should have, but sadly don't. For instance, before this course, I would have said with confidence that I would be able to identify a deepfake video immediately. However, in the course, we had a "test" where we had to state whether or not a video was fake, and I got every single answer incorrect. This was scary to me, as people can post seemingly real videos that are in fact not true at all. I am so grateful to have learned about the capabilities of these videos, so that I can look out for them and make sure to not believe everything I see. 

Another fascinating lesson throughout the course was the study of tricksters, swindlers, and frauds. Before the course, I always thought of scams as bad and dangerous, but had never really considered what they revealed about society. Now, I see not only the dangers of scams themselves, but also the sad truth about humanity: we glorify wealth and power, making it easy to fall for a "shortcut to being rich." 

The lessons about the Salem Witch Trials also really struck me. It is crazy to think that people were actually executed with no tangible evidence other than lies and accusations. People say history repeats itself, and so I spent some time reflecting on that. Is history repeating itself? Maybe not to that extent, but in this day and age, with social media and false information, people have the ability to post whatever they want whether it is true or not. While we may have learned the lesson of needing trials and legitimate evidence before prosecution, many public figures still experience hate and slander due to what is posted online (whether it is true or not). 

I could go on and on about the lessons learned in this class, but these are the three ultimate takeaways that are fascinating yet concerning. I now leave this course with more awareness and knowledge about the dangers of the internet and about how human psychology handles truth and deception.