Making credulous researchers and fact checkers

I think that this post is an interesting place to use in advanced fact checking. I wonder if we can use these examples as things to ask people to search – or to assert another point of view and have them validate it with facts?

Five facts that will turn your world upside down

Fact 1: Of all the people aged 65+ that have ever lived, 50% are alive right now (1)

Fact 2: China has 21% of the world’s population but only 1.8% of the world’s oil (2)

Fact 3: There are now 4.1 billion mobile (cell) phones on the planet, 75% of which reside in developing regions (3)

Fact 4. China consumes 40% of the world’s steel production, 30% of the world’s coal and 25% of the world’s aluminum and copper. The country also accounts for 40% of the increase in demand for oil since 2001 (4)

Fact 5: In 2008 an average PC was 32,000 times more powerful and 12 times less expensive than an average PC in 1981 (5)

Sources: (1) New Scientist magazine, UK (2) Eurasia Group, US (3) Economist magazine, UK (4) The Guardian, UK (5) A Brief History of the Future by Jacques Attali (6) IMS Research & Cisco Systems, US.

And for bonus points, go beyond the secondary sources listed and cite the primary source.

Stephen