In this essay at Taki Mag, Dalrymple reflects on how easily modern society slips into confusion between truth and fabrication, using the supposed discovery of a new species of porcupine as a starting point.

Most of our knowledge has always derived from authority, of course. Unless we are historians who examine original sources, we depend for our historical knowledge on the authority of a succession of authors; and even original sources may be doubted…. But just because you can’t think of a motive for deceit doesn’t mean that it hasn’t taken place. There are people who like to deceive for its own sake—disinterested deceivers, as it were.