Fake
news, alternative fact, defamation, misstatements are
all terms that appear daily in the media but knowledge
of the origin of the problem has remained buried, which
is unfortunate, because these early instances of lying,
disinformation and deceit contain the best tools for combatting
this problem.
It
wasn’t long after democracy was adopted in Athens in 505
B.C. that citizen voters began debating openly and freely
on the issues of the day as they met on the Pynx Hill.
History has, of course, sung the praises of this stupendous
achievement but very often failed to record the problems
that all of this 'freedom' introduced. Although anyone
could speak out at will, it soon became apparent that
the greatest power lay in those who could speak the most
persuasively. It was then that the great import into Athens
of master sophists and rhetoricians occurred. They were
paid handsomely and the art of persuasive rhetoric became
one of the most desired acquisitions in town for most
of the 5th century.
If
one could master the new rhetorical techniques, then power
in discussion assemblies could be more easily harnessed
and soon the results of this immersion in this academic
persuasive rhetoric of the sophists became the hottest
educational topic in town.
Great
sophists became celebrities. The names of the best remain
popular: Pericles, Gorgias, Isocrates, Antiphon and later
Demosthenes are still referenced.
Initially,
the art of rhetoric was solely dedicated to altruistic
issues that would benefit all the citizens of the polis.
But the nefarious, ambitious and corrupt quickly realized
that rhetorical talent could be used to serve those who
weren’t interested in the welfare of the Polis as much
as their own desires. Quickly, the statesmen rhetoricians
spoke against abuses in the new art. Protagoras, an honorabe
and respected teacher showed how a master speaker could
make “the weaker argument the stronger.” But It was Gorgias
who most cynically predicted the evils that lay ahead
when he said, “The power of speech has the same effect
on the disposition of the soul as the disposition of drugs
on the nature of bodies,” an ominous statement coming
from one who benifited greatly from the new laws.
Little
did Gorgias realize that his prediction would continue
to affect democratic societies 2000 years in the future.
But
what could be done about the willful distortions coming
from master rhetoriticans? Arguments by less talented
speakers often only resulted in frustration before the
manipulative power of rhetoric and a continuous loss of
credibility for those trying to make things better.
Many
approaches to halting the insidious power of language
have been utilized ever since but have all failed. It
turns out that the classical Greeks themselves came up
with the best solutions.
Because
the stakes were so high, Greek scholars began studying
and recording various linguistic violations of logic from
terms used in public debate from unconscious comments
to everyday conversational communication and then to government
debates. They even took note of casual hyperbole used
in the everyday informal exchanges between friends, family
members and neighbours. And they labeled everything. The
terms they came up with are virtuably unknowable to moderns
unless considerable study ensues.
So
. . . in the years of the classical 5th century’s devotion
to reason and logic, many terms came into use that would
help investigators uncover major lies and distortions
down to even unconscious logical misuse in neighbourly
conversations.
The
Greek scholars developed huge lists of language devices
mainly to combat lies, distortions, half-truths and hyperbole
in the thousands of public conversations. The lists grew
and grew especially when the Romans adopted the Greek
items and began adding hundreds of their own. At present,
we ourselves turn to these terms in our own conversations.
The most common terms among the citizenry were expressions
such as Argumentum Ad Hominem which most schoolboys know
as an argument referencing a person’s character instead
of his talent or paideia which is the Greek system of
education for boys. Most terms were unknowable to the
ordinary citizenry but essential for specialists. In addition
to the Romans, later cultures added to the list which
was to include terms from many languages. No one could
memorize the entire list of entries but anyone needing
to analyze literature as an art form certainly had access
to the list when any term came up that was used incorrectly.
At
present there are thousands of these special terms all
designed to detect errors in logic, emotional prejudices,
some which maybe unintentional in a particular speech
but nonetheless violate logic.
Such
a list, if readily available for reference, could be purposefully
engineered by AI through a program that contains all of
the violations of logic compiled by the ancient Greeks
and Romans so that it could detect all errors and prejudices,
even unintentional ones. The list would be punctually
updated to include any new material and would recognized
as a final arbiter in ascertaining truth and falsity in
any language; it’s prestige would be enough to counter
all challenges.
If
such an instrument/computer/machine or whatever else our
gadget might be called seems like some sort of sci-fi
fantasy, sceptics outside this field of microchip technology
might take note of a recent instrument installed at California’s
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. This giant instrument/computer
is called El Capitan and it can perform two quintillion
calculations -- that’s a two followed by 18 zeros every
second.
In
order to give laymen and non-techies some perspective
on this outlandish number, the scientists offer the following
comparison: they inform us that this number is the same
number of grains of sand on earth - 7.5 quintillion.
Man
has come a long ways since the abacus.
Since
no solution to the incontinent unlicensed lying and deceit
occurring in the media has thus far appeared, it is time
to revisit the work of the Ancient Greeks, update and
rearticulate their explanations and include elucidations
of the myriad terms they invented long ago.
Modern
textbooks and scholarly articles can then be accessed
by college students after considerable study and then
perhaps objective truth in reporting can enjoy a bit of
a renaissance.
