Viral Truths and the Mouthpieces of Unreality

“What I want is to praise Hunt because what he had done has been incredible—and to praise those whose truths Hunt was in a position to make go viral.”

Truths can go viral. With the Internet as a catalyst, they often do so far faster than coronaviruses. Truths are more difficult to contain, and their curves are more resistant to being flattened. They are spread not by human contact, but by human will and human goodness. As with coronaviruses, entire governments (and even societies) can be mobilized to stop the spread of truths: mouthpieces of unreality trying to drown out the truth with the merely politically correct. But, as they say, the truth always gets out.

But it does not get out all on its own. That is to do a grave disservice to those who risk their lives to tell the truth—and to those who seek out the tellers of politically incorrect truths to amplify and continue their spread. I can only speak for myself on this matter: I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Ben Hunt, who wrote on this very topic for Quillette in early March.

I feel slightly awkward singling out Hunt for such effusive praise. But I don’t really have a choice because this is a true reflection of my experience; he is the only reason I took the virus seriously when I did. I’m sure he will be embarrassed by all of this too, and, equally, I am sure many millions of people have their own versions of this story. I would highlight in particular the great, if brash, work of Nassim Taleb, as well as his frequent co-authors Yaneer Bar-Yam and Joe Norman.

I have my differences with Taleb, but, in recognition of the severity of this moment, I will put petty Twitter squabbles aside without a second thought to help fight this fight. Twitter is not real life. The virus is the most real life has felt in a long time.