“What does Truth mean in the Age of Algorithms?” is a question that resonated at the inaugural session Literature Live! The Mumbai Litfest 2025

By:  Venki Ramakrishnan

When talking about what truth means and how one can arrive at it from a scientific lens, Venki Ramakrishnan said, “Science is groping your way towards the truth. There is only a method that we all agree on, and that method issues results that we then establish as the truth. And that truth is always provisional. When new information comes to light that disproves or extends what you thought, then you just incorporate that. You don’t stick to it - it’s not dogma or a religion. And we can expand upon the idea of the truth - it can become something that grows and builds upon itself. And sometimes, it drastically changes.”

By: Christian Stöcker

While talking about combining truth with the idea of trust, Christian Stöcker added, “Let me introduce another term to the conversation - propaganda. If you look at old manuals for propaganda, they contain the central tenet of conveying ideas that you want your citizens to believe in. But another main goal, especially in foreign propaganda, is not to make us believe something is untrue, but to undermine the idea that the truth can be known. And this is undermining trust. For instance, undermining trust in the scientific process is something we’ve been witnessing for decades when it comes to climate change.”

He further mentioned the role of social media in this information ecosystem by saying, “The core design principle of social media platforms is not information ecosystem but harvesting attention and optimising engagement and not the truth. It’s gauging how many people will interact with it, how many more likes and shares the post will garner engagement that emotionalises people. Negative emotions act best. You are moving in outrage-optimised environments. If you hear something a lot of times, you do believe it. These are breeding grounds for disinformation.”

By: Shehan Karunatilaka 

Adding his own unique perspective as a novelist, Shehan Karunatilaka said, “I wonder if the idea of a singular narrative is also a lie we wrap ourselves up in. And I also wonder if it’s the domain of just us writers and artists. And I’m not sure if sciences, commerce or business are immune to this. I think there are multiple narratives, and I think my job is to present these multiple narratives. I have no solutions for you but I would say the least we can do is present the narratives as best as we can. That’s why you create different characters with multiple narratives. You should have alternative views.”