How do you know that your sources are accurate?

Technically, unless you see something yourself, you're reliant on another person's information.

Who, in turn, may be reliant on another person's information.


In the trail of information, people may not directly quote information given to them, they may sum it up as it is too hard to remember in the original format.

Some errors are just that, error that were not meant in any malicious way, but happened because of a mistake in information transferal.

Also, someone you may trust may tell you something that they believe is true, but just because you trust this person, does not mean you can trust the source behind them.

Some information we can test out all by ourselves. ie "If you put pickle juice on your head, your hair will grow back."

Other information would require too much time or energy to test on our own. "10,000 gallons of oil is all that would be needed to propel a car shaped rocket to mars in under 2 years."


What people know, or think will drive their actions.


Some people are out for the truth, others will believe whatever makes them feel best and abhor truth.


Either way, as a result, those wishing to control other's lives, or to earn fame will craft malicious content that is false to move groups of people in a certain way. Propaganda media today, and books+ vibrant speakers of the past have moved people with deliberate lies, or unintentional inaccuracies causing even entire countries to go to war over what has been perceived. . . . or propagated.




How much do you care about your information?

How do you know that you can trust it?

Sword legion :

How much do you care about your information?
How do you know that you can trust it?

Very important questions that.  I care a lot about giving the correct info.  If it's from your own experience, no one can refute that, but most of the time you have to use sources to bring your point across.  When the info is scientific, I always look for a footnote which references actual scientific articles / publications that proves the result and the work done to achieve the specific outcome.
If it's of a spiritual nature, there's only one reference book for me - the Bible.  Being a bible believing Christian, I believe that to be the absolute truth.  If there's a discussion on spiritual things and someone mentions something that they picked up on hearsay, I don't just go with it and eat it up as truth.  It's important to cross reference it with the Bible otherwise we just plant another seed of falseness.  If I consult Christian websites, I always check that they back up their claims by referring to Bible verses IN CONTEXT.  There are many false Christians and so called "Christian" self help info out there so it's super important to be 100% sure.

SoL@R :
Brain-Splattered :

Well, thank you for your feedback.

I suppose that my answer would be the same as SoL@R's.

I really want to be sure before I believe anything.


Science, after all, is one a lot more stable than morals, which differ from person to person, depending on what those morals are based on.

You are right Brain Splattered though on how people will weigh you on what you say.


One problem I have is how hard it is to get factual information on anything that you can't test yourself. I mean, if there's a study that says one thing, there's another study that says another. Marjuana is something I won't even research on the internet, because:

1. It's a hot political topic now. (lot's of forgery)

2. It's the internet. (reason enough. )


Take my stance on Marjuana for example, based on info I got, from people who actually took it To decide my stance on the issue. (as of now.)


I found that one guy I know says that Marjuana makes you sleepy. He also said that it makes you hungry.

I suppose that those are wild effects or anything like that. Seems just about as bad as (high amounts of) alchohol. I can see why people want it to be legal.


However, when I talked to someone who knew the guy, he said that the marijuana also made him paranoid- not a good side effect.

In the end, I'm still very well open to more information on the topic.

One other backdrop I go to when the topic is brought up, is. "Well, I know our culture nowadays certainly does abuse alchohol. Honestly, since marjuana is already illegal, considering all the problems alchohol abuse causes, why allow our culture to get used to another substance that causes negative effects?"

Also, I find that most stuff that we take into our bodies just to make us feel good is bad anyways. (including sugar, sugar is just very low on the scale of effecting when compared to serious drugs.)

Caffeine could be looked up similarly.


One way I might collect data on such a topic USING the internet, (shivers) would to be to look at hospital files and see what those who intake marjuana in legal states have in common with it as far as other health issues.


Once again, thanks for posting. You have a great day to Brain Splattered.

We are actually currently learning about sources in Literature class in school. I usually know that my sources are reliable when they have a date of when the source was posted, or the reliability of the site page, or user who posted the source. Sorry, I'm not that good at explaining things, but what I'm trying to say is, make sure you know who the source is from and what it's about.

It depends on what the topic is. In general though, if someone makes a strange claim, ask for the source. Then check that source's source. Track it back to the start and evaluate for yourself how plausible the claim is. Especially when it comes to the sciences, people get it wrong all the time, either out of laziness or ineptitude. Knowledge is far too important to just leave it to the say-so of a single person; that's what peer-review is for and it's what your own intuition can evaluate.

Here's an excellent video on media and science.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdnZ1l5TxJk

Here's another interesting one on conspiracy theories and sourcing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhWpP-vPUcQ

It's so important to actually check facts yourself.