Alone, a single bit in a computer means nothing. It lacks context. It could be ‘1’ or ‘0’, there’s nothing in between unless we shave time so small we wouldn’t notice it with all but the most sensitive of instruments that we may not have built yet.
What gives this little piece of information context?
A grain of sand by itself, suspended in space, means nothing. It lacks context other than being a bit of silica. It is simply because it isn’t, and it is surrounded by “isn’ts”.
What gives that bit of sand context?
The answer to both questions, of course, is that we give these things context.
We’ve been wandering around the planet we stand on for millenia tossing out contexts on things we encounter like blessings from a deity, limited by what we understand. As our understanding increases, the contexts we give things change.
Contexts about the planet are pretty basic, revolving around whether the earth is shaking or not, whether it’s rainy or snowy, as examples. How we feel about that context sometimes creates narrative.
The sun being visible means daylight – and when the sun was supposed to be visible and wasn’t, it was clearly the work of some deity either to water the crops or to make it cold, perhaps wet, and nasty. Context becomes narrative in that way, and then narrative begins to give context.
“If we just sacrifice that good looking daughter of that guy I don’t like who got with that woman who didn’t give me the time of day… she’s a virgin, right?”
Then narrative gets used as context to provide narrative to provide false context.
And thus we have fake news.
The key is to define the appropriate context.
