Back when facts mattered, I came across an amazing lie detector technology, called Truster. It was a voice-activated machine developed by the Israeli army, used to interrogate spies. Truster analyzed the pitch changes in people’s voices – a signal they’re lying. Apparently, when telling a fib, our throat muscles constrict involuntarily. As a result, the voice sounds slightly higher, indicating ‘deception’.
I was intrigued.
So, I created a national radio special called ‘Sex, Lies and Audiotape’. I collected audio samples of notorious liars and played their clips through Truster. Seeking the truth, we tested outrageous whoppers told by dozens of con artists, including O.J. Simpson, Charles Manson, Lee Harvey Oswald, Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon and Michael Jackson.
I’ll share the results later on.
Here’s my take. This upcoming election is all about trust. But with so much misinformation, who can you believe? How can you know when a candidate is lying, or telling the truth?
Enter Politifact and their ‘Truth-O-Meter’.
It’s not a machine, but a team of Pulitzer Prize winning reporters who meticulously examine information for truthfulness. Then, they corroborate their findings from multiple sources.
Imagine watching the presidential debates, with the Truth-O-Meter activated at the bottom corner of your screen. Whenever a candidate lies, the needle pegs in the BS zone. It signals when candidates aren’t being honest.
We’d know the truth in an instant. That said, when fake news and real news are indistinguishable, do facts still matter?
Will a TV network have the courage to use Truth-O-Meter?
By the way, Truster revealed that every person tested was lying. Lance Armstrong cheated, Paul isn’t dead, and O.J. was so deceptive that he almost broke the machine.
