While we’re celebrating facts and devotion to accuracy, why not do it twice? In many ways, Wikipedia is completely different from the fact checkers at The New Yorker, but they share the same set of beliefs. «Having a stubborn common ground of shared reality turns out to be a basic precondition of collective human life», as it’s described in this super interesting piece on the inner workings of Wikipedia. Favourite quote from this one: «A lie might be more plausible or useful than a fact, but it lacks a fact’s dumb arbitrary quality of being the case for no particular reason and no matter your opinion or influence.»

From Weekly Filet #542, in September 2025.