[zxcmx]

I agree that "lies" and "bullshit" seem to be among the defining problems of our time.

What seems to have broken down is trust.

In the many cases where you rightly point out the truth is discoverable, who do we trust to tell it to us?

It's a hard, long-term problem. If people have lost faith in priests, scientists, politicians and the media, where to go from there?

Any program to restore some ground truth to common discourse will have to operate by building (or rebuilding) broad societal trust in one or more public institutions. Ideally institutions which act in good faith and are in fact trustworthy.

It is very hard (in a democracy) to make true progress on societal issues without some way to achieve broad consensus that they are real.