“I never touch the stuff. That’ll give you prostate cancer!” said my friend, pointing to the shaker of black pepper I was offering to him for his poached eggs. It was about 3AM and we were at one of my favourite late-night diners in Southeastern Connecticut getting a bite to eat after working into the night on a video project.

“What? Who told you that?” I asked in disbelief. I thought I was up on all the latest foods that supposedly contribute to cancer.

“A friend” he said, a bit surprised that I had questioned his claim. So I did what any nerd with an Internet-enabled cell phone would do. I “googled” it.

After a few minutes I couldn’t find a single reference linking black pepper to prostate cancer. A few minutes later I discover that pepper has been shown to strengthen the immune system. Here’s a quote from mapi.com:

“Black pepper is another common spice whose effects in the diet have been well documented. Research published in Cancer Letter in the August 16, 1993 issue reported that 20 days after adding black pepper to the diet, the subjects' liver detoxification systems were strengthened, aiding in purification of the blood tissue and enhancing the overall immune system.”

A few minutes later I discover that capsaicin, the stuff that gives hot peppers their kick, has been recently shown to cause prostate cancer cells to kill themselves.

He didn’t argue with the results of my quick research, which I managed to pull off in about 5 minutes over breakfast at a diner in the middle of the night.

That little exchange taught me something. Never before have human beings been able to check facts in real time from virtually any location, and most importantly, before we accept said facts as being true. Just a year ago I would have put down the pepper shaker, told myself “I should check that out when I get home”, and promptly forgotten to do so.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from participating in this instant information society it’s that BS is becoming less and less effective. This plays out on the world stage as well. Governments all over the world, especially ours, have to take drastic measures to keep their operations secret. We have counted on our ability to BS each other (as people and as nations) for so long that we don’t expect to be called on our BS so quickly and easily.

In the end, the cleansing light of my portable real-time anti-BS device kept my friend from spreading BS that was spread to him, and it also gave us both some new information that we can use immediately.