What should we believe?

What should we believe?

What should we believe?
This is perhaps one of the most important questions of our time.
The Tineola Theatre bases its performances on the latest verified scientific findings.
Therefore, we will encounter questions that also concern truthfulness…
Theatre is no longer true by its very nature. And we - the audience - have learned to take it that way and take our experiences and knowledge with us and KNOW THAT IT IS JUST LIKE…- and because theatre has been developing for hundreds of years, it is already clear and we are aware of it.
The problem arose with the advent of the Internet.
The Internet is a very new thing in the history of mankind.
At first, it was promising because it recorded and helped those who had newspapers, radio and television stolen (due to power, influence, money, political influence). Through the Internet, we could suddenly communicate directly, or through emerging networks, and publish our own news, experiences, and expertise without the permission of influential and ruling people. It was great, new, and a step forward. BUT…
But very quickly, these networks were also stolen for manipulation. And so, abusing the Internet is a completely new thing for humans.
And that is why we all have to learn that it is a tool that we do not know whether to trust and that on the one hand it still helps us, but also significantly and directly manipulates us. And because it is constantly changing, we have to approach it with caution.
Theater can also be manipulative, but we already know that and besides, it involves smaller groups of people who directly choose the topic themselves. And you can always leave…
You can do that to a certain extent with networks. I just read something and if something interests me, surprises me - I check it out. I'm not leaving the theater, but I'm leaving the thread, the originator of the message, or even reporting and banning…

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Why do people believe fake news?
Because the human brain was not developed for seeking truth.
It was developed for survival.
And for survival, the following are often more important:
* quick decisions,
* belonging to a group,
* a sense of security,
* simple explanations.
Fake news often offers just that.
For example:
"Climate change is a complex system of thousands of factors."
versus
"A few powerful people are to blame for everything."
The second explanation is simpler, more emotionally powerful, and easier to remember.

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Why does someone create false information?
The reasons are varied:
1. Power
Whoever controls information can influence people.
2. Money
Shocking news attracts attention.
Attention is often turned into profit today.
3. Ideology
Some people truly believe they are spreading the right thing.
They are driven by a desire for significance
Some people want to be the ones who “know the secret.”
This gives them a sense of specialness.

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Why do other people believe them?
Most often it is not a lack of intelligence.
Much more often it is:
* insecurity,
* fear,
* loss of trust in institutions,
* the need to belong,
* the feeling that no one is listening to them.
Conspiracy theories often function as a surrogate community.
They do not just provide an explanation of the world.
They provide an identity.
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What about science? To believe or not to believe?
Science does not offer absolute truth. It offers the best available explanation of reality based on evidence.
The difference between science and conspiracy is not that science is never wrong.
The difference is that:
* science looks for its mistakes,
* science corrects them,
* science publishes the procedure,
* science allows for verification by others.
A scientific statement is therefore not true because it is made by a scientist.
It is true to the extent that it withstands criticism, experiments and new observations.
Therefore, it can be said:
Scientific knowledge is not an immutable truth. It is the most reliable way that humanity has yet found for knowing reality.

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How many people in Europe trust science?
The exact number depends on the country and the research methodology.
In general, however, European surveys have long shown that the majority of the population considers science important and beneficial.
At the same time, a significant part of the public:
* does not understand the scientific process,
* cannot assess the quality of sources,
* is subject to misinformation on specific topics.
So the problem is not in rejecting science as such.
The problem is rather in navigating the information chaos.
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Can images help science?
Yes.
And very significantly.
People think in images much more than we realize.
For example:
* model of the atom,
* double helix of DNA,
* evolutionary tree,
* photograph of the Earth from space.
These are not just illustrations.
These are images that have changed the way people understand the world.
Our approach at Tineola Theatre is interesting precisely because we create images for phenomena that are not visible:
* communication between trees,
* microbial world,
* relationships between organisms,
processes in the soil.
processes in the human body
In this, theatre is very close to science.
Both science and theatre create models of reality.
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How does theatre convince?
Here is the fundamental difference.
Theatre does not convince with evidence.
Theatre convinces with experience.
It does not say: This is the truth.
It says: Imagine that it could be so.
The viewer does not become a judge.

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He becomes a participant. He feels something, questions and associations come to him, he thinks about what he saw and perceived....
That is why people often remember a theatrical performance longer than a professional lecture.
Not because they remember more facts.
But because they remember the experience.

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Perhaps the most interesting question for our theater:
When the viewer knows that he is watching fiction, why does he still sometimes believe it more than reality?
Because man is not a being who makes decisions based solely on facts.
We are beings of stories.
Stories have been the main tool with which humanity has passed on experience for thousands of years.
And science is actually also a story. Just a very special story.
A story that must constantly be verified by reality.
Perhaps this is where our theater's unique place lies:
Science tells us what we know.
Theater allows us to experience what this knowledge means.

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And it is the combination of knowledge and experience that most profoundly changes the way people think about the world.

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