Empowered but Misled: Navigating Truth in the Tech Age
Technology has changed the world in ways our ancestors could hardly have imagined. With a few taps, we can learn anything, speak to anyone, and move ideas or money across the globe. In many ways, we are more empowered than ever before.
And yet, we find ourselves surrounded by misinformation, ideological manipulation, and a growing sense of disconnection—from each other and from reality. The same technologies that promised liberation can also be used for control. This article explores how the evolution of technology has enabled both the awakening of individual responsibility and the spread of powerful narratives that threaten liberty, truth, and self-governance.
The Promise and Pitfalls of Modern Technology
Technological progress has made life more comfortable than any time in history. Medical innovations save lives that would have been lost only decades ago. We can travel across oceans in a day. We can speak face-to-face with someone halfway around the world. We can research anything, learn from anyone, and connect instantly.
But these same conveniences reveal strange contradictions. While we have fast cars, we spend hours stuck in traffic. Though air travel is safer and faster than ever, travelers now spend more time in security lines and airport terminals than in the sky. We can access limitless information, yet it’s harder than ever to know what’s true.
Even our relationships have become paradoxical. Families separated by continents can stay in daily contact, while those living in the same house may drift apart—each absorbed in their own curated digital world. Information is abundant, but attention is fragmented. Truth is available, but trust is fragile.
In this landscape, propaganda doesn’t need to be hidden—it just needs to be louder than the alternatives. And many people, bombarded by noise, have lost the tools to sort signal from static.
From Innocence to Skepticism: A Personal Awakening
Like many who grew up in the United States in the 1950s, I was taught to trust government and the media. Institutions, we believed, were staffed by wise adults who had our best interests at heart. Differences between political parties were about policies, not integrity. We believed in America—and in the stories we were told.
That belief was shattered in November 1963.
As a fourteen-year-old, I watched in horror as President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Just days later, I watched Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin, murdered on live television. That moment changed everything. The official explanation—that Jack Ruby acted out of grief—never felt right. It was the first time I saw a public narrative fail to align with the evidence of my own eyes.
The events that followed reinforced my skepticism. The war in Vietnam, the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., and eventually the Watergate scandal and Nixon’s resignation—each pulled back the curtain a little more. The more technology allowed us to see behind the scenes, the more it exposed inconsistencies in what we had been told to believe.
The Role of Whistleblowers and the War on Truth
In the digital age, access to truth expanded—but so did efforts to suppress it.
Julian Assange and Edward Snowden stand as pivotal figures in this era. Assange revealed evidence of U.S. war crimes, including video footage of a helicopter crew laughing as they killed civilians. Snowden exposed the scope of illegal domestic surveillance by the U.S. government—surveillance that had been repeatedly denied under oath.
These men didn’t fabricate stories. They presented original evidence of state wrongdoing. Yet, instead of being lauded as truth-tellers, they were smeared and hunted. The message was clear: exposing uncomfortable truths is more dangerous than committing the crimes themselves.
Mainstream media—dependent on access, advertising, and alignment with power—often participated in the vilification. Their coverage blurred the lines between journalism and public relations for the state. And while public trust in institutions continued to erode, the system held on—thanks in part to confusion, distraction, and the sheer pace of the news cycle.
The COVID Crisis: A Narrative Battle
Then came COVID-19.
It wasn’t just a health crisis—it was a political and informational crisis. The speed with which governments around the world imposed sweeping restrictions on movement, business, worship, and even family visits was staggering. In many places, the measures resembled martial law more than public health policy.
We were told to “trust the science,” but the science kept changing. We were told we were all in this together, but politicians and celebrities routinely broke the very rules they demanded of others.
Those who raised questions were mocked, censored, or banned from social platforms. For months, mainstream media outlets echoed the exact same phrases, creating an illusion of consensus. But it was social media—flawed as it is—that allowed alternative voices to break through.
When Elon Musk acquired Twitter and released internal files showing coordinated government censorship, the reality became impossible to ignore. Our information channels had been filtered—at the highest levels—to support a single narrative.
Polarization and the Entrepreneur’s Dilemma
In the wake of this battle over truth, society is splitting into camps. Each side believes the other is not just wrong, but dangerous. Every issue becomes a litmus test for loyalty. Facts become weapons. Nuance is lost.
Caught in the middle are those trying to build something—especially entrepreneurs and investors. Their success depends on navigating reality, not ideology. They need reliable information, functioning markets, and resilient institutions. When everything is politicized, innovation becomes harder and risk increases.
Yet this group may be the best hope for restoring clarity. Builders need to understand what works. They have a vested interest in truth—not because it flatters them, but because it helps them solve problems.
Conclusion: The Path Forward
The technological genie is out of the bottle. It can’t be forced back. But neither can we assume it will guide us wisely without effort. The future will not be defined by which narrative wins—it will be shaped by those who can step outside the narratives and focus on building what’s real.
Decentralization, transparency, and experimentation will be the tools of that future. Entrepreneurs who embrace these principles will lead us toward systems of governance and information that respect individual responsibility.
Technology won’t save us. But wise people using technology might.