Claim Any piece of information referred to as a fact should be mistrusted since it may well be proven false in the future Reason Much of the information that people assume is factual actually turns out to be inaccurate

A fact can be any piece of information that is known to be proved. The author contends that much of the information people believe to be factual eventually turns out to false and, therefore, proposes that any information referred to as fact must be mistrusted. While undue scepticism in some instances might be harmful, people must not passively believe what is being conveyed as facts without sound logic and scientific evidence.

The first reason to support the author’s claim relates to the ease with which any false information can be passed on as facts through public manipulation. Hitler once said ‘If you want to prove an information correct, say it so frequently that it becomes a fact’. And it was this tactic using which he convinced the German population that Jews are enemies of Aryans and lack patriotism. Similarly, during American civil war, the notion that Blacks are naturally inferior to Whites was peddled with such frequency that people started believing it as a fact without critical considerations. Had those purported ‘facts’ not been blindly accepted, a lot of Jewish and Black lives could have been saved. In present times, wrong information can be easily portrayed as facts through media coverage. There are many instances where both electronic and print media have served to disseminate false information on the personal lives of celebrities and politicians to decide the fate of elections or assassinate reputations.

Another prominent reason to support the author’s assertion has to do with the way human knowledge in science or social sciences advances through critical thinking. For centuries, the notion about the Earth’s fixed position in Universe was considered as a fact. It was Copernicus’s mistrust that led to the theories and then Galileo’s observations eventually disproving this ‘fact’. In social sciences, passive acceptance of information is also inappropriate. Consider history for instance. Many of the information considered to be historical facts might be written by biased or influenced historians painting only one view of the past. For example, North Korea’s history proudly glorifies its rulers traits and achievements though many of which could be fabricated. Blind acceptance of such information can never open up possibilities to unearth the truth and thus true knowledge about the past.

However, facts which are a result of rigorous scientific research, observations and analysis must not be unduly doubted. Mistrusting basic laws of science will create illusions about human existence and future. Such scepticism will impede the progress in technology and engineering which has its genesis in basic sciences. While some may argue that even most trusted scientific facts such as Newton’s Laws of Gravity were later found to have limitations; it is noteworthy, however, that these facts were not completely proven inaccurate. It was rather the boundaries that were defined later for their applications. Moreover, undue scepticism of ‘facts’ could be extremely risky when something large in value is at stake. For instance, disbelieving the facts about climate change – no matter how debatable they are - could prove extremely costly to human civilization. Finally, mistrust on any information must be founded on experiential knowledge rather than paranoia or habitual suspicion.

In conclusion, while unnecessary scepticism is harmful for time tested facts that are backed by scientific evidence, observations and sound logic; critical analysis and, by extension initial mistrust, of information is crucial to discern the truth and advance knowledge. Nevertheless, the mistrust in any factual information must be grounded in experiential knowledge and the urge to substantiate the truth rather than paranoia or inherent suspicion.