This topic of truth is something that has been on my mind. Recently, I wrote that trust needs a major innovation. What is clear, however, is that truth and fact are quite different things. Coincidentally, Werner Herzog releases a book titled The Future of Truth, umm, yea. I’m in. Herzog has always seemed like something of an eccentric figure and I’m sure he’d have stories to tell.
And he did, of working on movies, working with stars and, a weird and entire chapter to paraphrase a bizarre opera story. He talks of finding the truth beyond the facts. It’s something he calls the “ecstatic truth.” I love that. He talks about how overt lies are different than the lies told in service of the truth itself. When I think of it, he’s really on to something. His examples are often compelling, like that of Defoe:
In 1722 Daniel Defoe published A Journal of the Plague Year, a factual account of the great London plague of 1665, but the book is pure invention. The remarkable thing is that his description of the scourge is so much more animated and believable than all the original documents that have come down to us. No one else gives you such deep insight into the horror as Defoe. There is no question that he used eyewitness accounts and had access to documents.
What humans long to understand is the meaning that comes from information presented to us. That has to be where art connects to us, whether or not it’s actually a factual thing. As Herzog describes, suspension of disbelief in movies has to do with us where,
We buy tickets for a magical performance, where we are quite willingly misled.
His solve for our Internet and news trust-based problems are to re-invigorate critical thinking, and I agree. Herzog is a unique figure that I confess could learn more about. His plea for us to read, read an read more books is also bang on. The final chapter contains just two sentences which I will not share here, but it’s a fitting end to this wonderful and short book. Now, Herzog’s movies are not always my cup of tea1, but there’s no doubt he’d be a fascinating person to sit down and talk to. This is a book worth checking out.