Die Zukunft der Wahrheit

by Werner Herzog

Der große Erzähler Werner Herzog fragt nach der seltsamsten aller Erzählungen: der von der Wahrheit. Was ist wahr? In einer Welt, die durch Fake News, politische Manipulation und künstliche Intelligenz verunsichert ist, die auf kalte Fakten setzt und doch die Poesie und den Film erfunden hat, muss Wahrheit mehr als bloß stumpfe Empirie bedeuten. Von einem erfundenen Schlachtensieg des Pharao Ramses bis zum modernen Mythos der Entführung durch Außerirdische, von ekstatischen Momenten am Filmset bis zu seinen Begegnungen mit der Wirklichkeit durch tagelanges Gehen reiht Werner Herzog auf einmalige Weise faszinierende Überlegungen und Erinnerungen aneinander.

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy, Essays, Audiobook, Film, History, Memoir

112 pages, Hardcover

First published February 19, 2024

About the author

Werner Herzog (born Werner Stipetić) is a German film director, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.

He is often associated with the German New Wave movement (also called New German Cinema), along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Wim Wenders and others. His films often feature heroes with impossible dreams, or people with unique talents in obscure fields.

Reviews

[Michael Burke · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Truth has no future, but truth has no past either."

Werner Herzog, an exceptionally prolific and uncompromising filmmaker, has directed more than 70 films, consistently pursuing his distinctive artistic vision. This collection of eleven lectures offers a look into his perspectives on the concept of truth.

The essence of truth remains perpetually elusive. The value lies not in reaching a final answer, which is impossible, but in the continuous, unending pursuit of it.

As an artist himself, Herzog has always stressed the value of emotional truth over factual truth. The core premise of the book is that deep human understanding often necessitates elements like imagination, stylization, invention, and poetry. He cites the example of Michelangelo's Pietà, where the artist portrays Jesus as the thirty-three-year-old man, but here Mary is reflected as a fifteen-year-old.

“Did Michelangelo intend to deceive us, is he offering us fake news, is his sculpture a lie? Of course not. What Michelangelo has done is to show us the essence of the two figures, the man of sorrows just taken down from
the cross, and the virgin, his mother.”

With Artificial Intelligence able to easily create any version of reality, regardless of its truthfulness, determining what is genuine has become exceedingly difficult. Herzog cautions that we must maintain a constant skepticism and take everything we are shown with a grain of salt. The fabrication of propaganda and false news is not a new phenomenon, having been a practice since antiquity.

In "The Future of Truth," Herzog's witty and entertaining approach is evident. This quick and breezy read uses amusing anecdotes to effectively provoke thought on how we interpret the realities surrounding us.

Thank you to Penguin Press and Edelweiss Plus for providing a review copy in exchange for an honest review. #TheFutureOfTruth

[Florian Ecker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wer Herzogs Erinnerungen gelesen hat wird feststellen, dass die Zukunft der Wahrheit nicht wirklich viel Neues zu bieten hat. Es liest sich wie eine Essenz seines letzten Buches. Für saftige 22€ empfehle ich, wie sowieso bei jedem Herzog Buch, stattdessen die kostenlose Hörbuch Version auf Spotify aufzusuchen.

[Nick LeBlanc · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded down.

Herzog is a stone cold genius and a hero of mine. I could listen to him talk for hours about pretty much anything. With this little addendum to his recent memoir, you don’t get much you haven’t heard before if you are a fan of his like I am. There are some profound thoughts woven throughout but ultimately it doesn’t add up to much. Nevertheless, I’m glad I read it and I never regret bouncing around in Werner’s head for a while.

Read on hardcover.

[Kilburn Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Werner Herzog, renowned filmmaker and provocateur, explores philosophical and existential inquiries in his latest book, Die Zukunft der Wahrheit (The Future of Truth). This literary work showcases Herzog's prowess not only as a visual storyteller but also as a profound thinker, offering original and provocative musings on art, poetry, spirituality, science, and philosophy.
Herzog's central thesis challenges conventional perceptions of truth. He posits that truth lies not in realistic representation, but in elevation, stylisation, invention, and poetry. This perspective invites readers to reconsider the nature of truth and reality, suggesting that the poetic and the invented often hold deeper truths than mere factual accuracy.
Through eleven chapters of engaging short lectures, Herzog unfolds his theory of truth. He covers eccentric historical figures, the internet, artificial intelligence, and Fake News, concluding with the paradoxical statement: The truth has no future, but truth has no past either. This encapsulates Herzog's view of truth as an elusive, ever-changing construct.
The book opens with a Persian legend about a shattered mirror, each fragment reflecting a piece of truth. This allegory sets the tone for Herzog's exploration of individual perception and truth's subjective nature. Rather than engaging in philosophical debates, Herzog offers vignettes and anecdotes illustrating the complex relationship between truth, emotion, and artistic creation.
Herzog emphasises the truth of emotions, arguing that while emotions may be unreliable in reality, they become credible through artistic expression. He cites Giuseppe Verdi's opera La Forza del Destino and his own film Family Romance, LLC as examples where fictional premises evoke genuine emotions. Herzog contends: Everything in this film is a lie... but in all the lies, the feelings are always truthful.
Intriguingly, Herzog explores self-deception as a necessary component of human existence. Rejecting rational explanations, he celebrates the power of illusion in evoking deeply felt personal truths. This aligns with Shakespeare's idea that The most truthful poetry is the most feigning, underscoring Herzog's advocacy for ecstatic truth - an elevated, emotional truth transcending factual reality.
In our era of fake news and digital falsifications, Herzog's exploration of truth is particularly relevant. He acknowledges these phenomena's impact while recognising technology's potential to create powerful illusions. Herzog advises considering opposing perspectives to navigate this complex landscape, promoting nuanced engagement with the digital world.
Die Zukunft der Wahrheit stands as a compelling treatise on truth in a postmodern world. Through his eclectic mix of stories, aphorisms, and reflections, Herzog encourages readers to embrace the poetic and imaginative as vital components of truth. His work celebrates the enduring human quest for meaning, urging us to recognise this pursuit as what elevates us above the ordinary.

[Sharof Hamroh]

How do you say in German that I did not get the point of the book?

[Keen Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars!

Herzog digs repeatedly into history discussing the likes of Nero, Ramesses II, Captain Scott and Bokassa, the former dictator of Central African Republic. But do you really want to read five pages dedicated to Werner Herzog describing the plot of a Verdi opera?...

This has its interesting moments, but it felt so aimless and whimsical as to be just a self-indulgent vanity project. In many ways this read like a toothless, diluted version of Zizek. He’s been given a platform, but he appears to have very little of interest or originality to say and you come away thinking so what was the point of all that then?...

[Jolanta (knygupė)]

2.5*

[Colton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Herzog is more concerned with the problems of truth more than his idea of what truth could be, his "ecstatic" truth.

Still, I found his audiobook reading of it to be invigorating, even if some stories are repeated (boiling wallpaper for nutrients in glue).

At first I was worried that Herzog's descriptions of AI would feed into the current moral panic, but it's a relief to see someone take a grounded and ambivalent look at fake news using history. It's not common.

[Josh C · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

Got a targeted ad for a signed copy of this book for a pretty good deal and if that's not late stage capitalism at its best, I don't know what is. When I opened it up I threw away the signature's verification document.

I think Herzog might be a little worried about dying without people hearing what he has to say. His whole body of work has been built upon the hunt for the ecstatic truth, the poem that illuminates our soul. This book in itself is a bit of a poem. If you're a good reader, you can easily finish it in one or two quick sittings. I think this might become a bit of a Josh Cheatham classic in the coming years.

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Een reeks aan grijpende reflecties over de huidige tijd, verwoven met referenties naar cinematische werken. Herzog durft terechte vragen te stellen, waarom zoveel investeren in Mars als utopische uitweg als we met dat geld ook een poging kunnen doen om de wereld een betere plek te maken. Wat ook is blijven hangen is de normatieve kracht van feiten, staat dat gelijk aan de waarheid? Een boek waar iedereen zich goed aan doet om een keer op te pakken, en om er over een aantal jaar weer bij te pakken om te reflecteren op de veranderingen ten opzichte van het boek als ijkpunt.

[Graham · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to enjoy this much more than I ended up. Like most people, I find Werner Herzog to be a compelling and interesting figure, and certainly someone who has experienced all that he has as a film director/scholar/man-about-town is full of compelling stories. And this book is certainly full of them; from conversations with cannibalistic dictators to alien cult leaders to scaling Argentine glaciers, one can't help but marvel at all that Herr Herzog has done.

The idea presented is good: in a world of AI-generated images, fake news, and a general distrust of all institutions, questions about truth are pressing. And I would say that I am even intrigued by Herzog's idea of truth being less of a clear, "tangible" thing like a fact, and more of a journey of exploration and uncovering. Whether it's through the bombast of opera or the illusion of a village of a Potemkin village along the river bank or an actor pretending to be your friend, Herzog makes the case that "ecstatic truth" is what we really seek, a peeking beyond just the facts and into something deeper.

For example, a viewer of one of his films may uncover ecstatic truth through Herzog's use of images and story. The catch is that a quote used at the beginning of the film, attributed to someone famous, that is designed to get you in the proper headspace to understand the film, is entirely a lie. This is not "truth" as we may define it (it's actually quite the opposite) but as long as the lie is in a sense transparent it can function as a vehicle for "ecstatic truth."

This is certainly worth unpacking and thinking about, but Herzog doesn't fully sell the idea. Many of the chapters seem a little disconnected, and while I think with a lot of squinting and focus you can thread together the different anecdotes, I'm not sure I walked away with anything more than a vague hand-wavy idea of "ecstatic truth."

I would be okay with that a little more were it not for the last chapter, in which he gives a few solutions. "Check multiple sources!" he says. "Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read" he says. (Cue me awkwardly nodding along, listening [not reading] to the audio book version of this.) These are solutions I agree with, but they're not really much different then what I used to tell my high school students back when I was a teacher.

Perhaps that's the point, and the "ecstatic truth" of the book is that there's nothing we can do but the tried and true. But at the end of this book I did feel a little like the penguin on the cover: adrift and uncertain of which direction I should go next.

[Francis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prikkelend boek over "de waarheid". Wat is waarheid? Hoe komen we daarop uit? En gevoelens dan? Hebben die altijd gelijk?

Fake news heeft al altijd bestaan. Het vroegst gedocumenteerde nepnieuws, dateert al van 1274 voor Christus. Ramses II vocht tegen de Hettieten en claimde de overwinning. In werkelijkheid, was er géén winnaar hier.

Vervolgens geeft de schrijver nog een hoop voorbeelden van oud nepnieuws, zoals de zogenaamde schenking van Constantijn. Men ontdekte dat dit nep was omdat men hier Latijn gebruikt dat pas 5 eeuwen na Constantijn gangbaar was...

Ook legt de auteur uit hoe we ons kunnen wapenen tegen fake news:

"Met internet is altijd dezelfde voorzichtigheid geboden als met media in het algemeen – met alle media, zonder uitzondering. Dat zou onze eerste reflex moeten zijn. Zoals sinds de Romeinse oudheid al in het strafrecht is vastgelegd, moet in een rechtszaak de onschuldpresumptie van toepassing zijn op de beklaagde. Dat is een groot goed van onze beschaving. Maar wat het internet betreft, zou het een automatisme moeten worden om het tegenovergestelde aan te nemen: een ‘schuldpresumptie’, een wantrouwen kortom, de veronderstelling van manipulatie, propaganda en leugens. Dit lijkt mij de enige houding om met nepnieuws om te gaan. Dat mag pessimistisch klinken, maar ik zie geen alternatief om ons tegen nepnieuws te beschermen."

Dit is best een interessant boek. De auteur legt linken en verbindt zaken die we niet zo vanzelfsprekend aan mekaar zouden knopen. Ook "leuk" om te weten dat fake news altijd al bestaan heeft, en zeker geen recente uitvinding is!

[Ira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a simple issue to tackle, truth, but then you wouldn’t expect such one-of-a-kind mind to take on simple challenges. It has always been his great skill to portray the complex with simplicity, in the way Bertolt Brecht one said, ‘it is simplicity that is the hardest to achieve’ – one of my own favourite quotes ever which I struggle to source or find the original for. I am convinced it is by Brecht because he was the master of defamiliarization and this would be something he would say – but to get back to the book, which is also riddled with digressions, Werner Herzog's work is the embodiment of that achievement, which for me is the holy grail of critique. He deploys the simple to trigger the complex in you, and so reminds us we are all capable of it, capable of critique, or whatever makes us human. In this book he tackles the question of the day: truth; he doesn’t give in to moralist posturing about realism nor downplays the role of the imagination in human life, but delivers snippets, anecdotes, that encourage us to look at life through a prism. And that’s probably our only chance for meaning, or something, to reveal itself, come out of the shadows to feed our sense of wonder, ἀ-λήθεια. Thanks, Mr Herzog.

[Erik Empson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun little book though disappointingly short. As you'd expect Herzog comes at his subject from oblique angles. His argument is not particularly surprising if you have watched his films: that the truth is a slippery concept and we find it below the skin, in the contradictions and paradoxes of human life. And that this has been a facet of human experience across the ages. Truth does not equal fact, and only in unlikely juxtapositions and exagerrated or even false representations can it be seen. There are lots of typically eclectic examples that demonstrate this, from Nero to Catherine the Great. Added to this is some insight into his films, as well as some explanation of the final, beguiling crocodile scene in Cave of Forgotten Dreams. Worth the read just to enjoy some of the dialectical gymnastics.

[David Dayen · Rating 4 out of 5]

What you need to know about Werner Herzog: 1) Do not, under any circumstances, bring up the concept of colonizing Mars. Not unless you want to hear an *extended* critique. 2) This is a man who fabricated a quote by Blaise Pascal in the opening of one of his movies, is proud of it, and included the anecdote in a book called The Future of Truth. 3) He is well aware of the prank played on news anchors at a station in San Francisco where racist fake names were given to them as the pilots of a Asiana Airlines jet, and he also includes that in a book called The Future of Truth (though he's not proud of it). These things alone are enough to recommend, and there are more in this slim volume.

[John Threebreadt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Etwas überholt aufgrund der Existenz von Herzogs Autobiographie. Für grosse Fans ist es aber trotzdem lesenswert, da der Rote Faden sich durch das Thema "Wahrheit" zieht und ein paar noch aus der Autobiographie unbekannte Geschichten dabei sind, wie zum Beispiel die Geschichte eines rosa Plüsch-Schweins, dass ausgiebige Archiv-Arbeit für Herzogs Filmographie leistete.

[Elisha Damsker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Все говорят: нет правды на земле.

Читается в один присест. Ощущение, что сел на кухне пофилософствовать с интересным собеседником. Не до конца понятна его точка зрения, с половиной утверждений хочется спорить, но истории у него интересные. Заодно он мне прорекламировал кучу своих фильмов, а я и рад.

[Shane1step · Rating 4 out of 5]

Истории о фейках в истории, шоубизе, социуме, в кино и интернете, в эпиграфах Херцога к собственным фильмам. Ложь, которая порой правдивее факта. Увлекательно, но иногда я совершенно не понимал, зачем мне это рассказывают

[Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

“How much are we willing to delegate? How much of our autonomy are we willing to renounce?”

I liked some of the essays, especially criticizing the use of AI, but a lot of it was pretty rambling (as always).

Side note I kinda wish he never got instagram

[witzelsucht · Rating 3 out of 5]

“If you don’t read, you will never make anything great.”

A lively gallivant across a range of subjects that strike Herzog’s fancy, loosely themed around untruth, delusion, propaganda, and the human propensity for self-deception: from Nero and Sporus and Potemkin villages to fake news and AI. I particularly enjoyed his excoriation of the pipe-dream of colonising Mars.

A despiser of cinéma vérité, Herzog pursues what he calls the ecstatic truth, aiming to reveal the greater emotional truth of a story by massaging facts, reframing anecdotes, and basically telling some little white lies when he deems them appropriate. Your mileage for the book will probably depend on whether you agree with or appreciate his manifesto. If you do, it’s delightful.

I listened to the audiobook and would gladly hear Herzog tell absolute whoppers all the livelong day, so I really liked this. It’s not as good as Every Man for Himself and God Against All, which is so packed with entertaining tales from his life, but it’s a fun insight into some things that animate him and capture his imagination.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda all over the place but fun all the same. Could have done without the chapter where he just recounts the narrative of an opera. It gets better when he starts talking about truth (and lack of it) in his own work. Also, it’s just great to hear Herzog talk innit

[GK · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Men use toupees to cover over hair loss. Let me offer my take on this, just to encourage men with wide partings like me: rather dead than ever seen in a toupee." i feel u bro

[Michael Barham · Rating 2 out of 5]

With all the love, what the fuck are you talking about, Werner??

Love you. Never change.

[Lionhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fuck yea Werner

[Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was disappointing, but only because I was expecting something different. There is very little stringing these entries together, and does not have a clear connection.

[Ayun Halliday · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you can do Werner's accent, do yourself a favor and read it aloud.

Full of way out personal anecdotes, bits of obscure history, and unvarnished observations about AI and "ecstatic truth". It took me a long time to wend my way through my (autographed!) copy because I am a bear of very little brain, and I needed to go back and reread certain passages to let it sink in.

Recommended!

[Andrea Lancia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Herzog è - oltre che un regista strepitoso - un cantastorie d'eccezione. Potrei ascoltarlo per ore, davvero. Però questo libro ha dei gravi problemi. Intanto il rapporto lunghezza libro (nemmeno 100 pagine) - prezzo (16 euro) è davvero inadeguato. Poi soprattutto trovo questa accozzaglia di storielle poco approfondite e che altrettanto poco hanno a che fare con il concetto di verità un "mappazzone" sgradevole. Se l'intento del libro era di stimare il futuro della verità partendo da celebri menzogne passate, beh per me ha fallito. Non c'è un punto di arrivo né tantomeno un filo che colleghi le argomentazioni di Herzog. Peccato.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning - makes one ponder - love it.

[Денис Немеров · Rating 3 out of 5]

Словно на паре у Ильченко посидел

[Keri · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this hopped up on Mucinex DM and Tylenol with a fever, and I think that's the only way to consume anything by Werner Herzog.