It can seem like everyone feels entitled to their own opinions and even their own facts. But skeptic Michael Shermer argues that reports of truth’s death are greatly exaggerated.

In his forthcoming book, Truth: What It Is, How to Find It, and Why It Still Matters, he shows that while our species is susceptible to self-deception, we’re not condemned to it.

Imagine you're at work, Shermer writes, and you get a call from your neighbor warning that suspicious-looking people seem to be casing your house. You call the police. They say they don't see anything out of the ordinary. Then your neighbor calls again to say there’s a moving truck in your driveway. Again, the police assure you that they don't see anything. Then your neighbor calls a third time, this time frantic because he sees people inside your home. What do you do?

Most people, Shermer notes, would rush home. Even if your neighbor was lying or mistaken, acting on the belief that your neighbor was telling the truth “would be a rational response to an apparently real threat.”

That same logic, Shermer says, can explain how thousands ended up storming the U.S. capitol on January 6, 2021. When people are convinced that their democracy is being stolen, the impulse to do something overrides doubt. People always act on what they believe to be true. So seeking the actual truth will always be essential.

Psychologically, this is the crux of the “post-truth” problem. Especially in times of uncertainty, our reasoning can become a servant of belonging. Social psychologists call this the my-side bias. Shermer cites Keith Stanovich’s research showing that highly intelligent people are even better than less intelligent people “at rationalizing beliefs that they hold for non-smart reasons.”

“There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say, we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”
Donald Rumsfeld, U.S. Secretary of Defense

While by definition, Shermer can’t address unknown unknowns, he breaks things down into known knowns, (things like evidence, causation, and how to think about highly unlikely events), known unknowns, (things we know we don't know about) and a section on known unknowables (like consciousness, free will, and God).

Known knowns is a guided tour through the architecture of

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