I think in analogies, and have observed this in myself for 50++ years.

I think that most people here are well aware of that.

In part because, the idea that all observations of reality, are subject to error and that they can never be regarded as final truth, is both the heart and core of the scientific method, and of skeptical thinking. Both of which are at the core of most agnostics, especially those here, thinking. You are preaching to the converted.

However it is also true that though you can never identify perfect truth, that some ideas are not closer to it and therefore more valuable, nor that perfect falsehood does not exist, (And is likely to be more common, and easier to test for. ) or that some ideas are not closer to it.

Intelligence just means useful information. It's a four step process.

Collection: Collect information
Collation: Sort the information into areas of interest
analysis: Analyse the information, decide what's useful
dissemination: Get it out asap to people who can use it

All these steps need to be done, if you miss one your confidence in the resulting assessment is less. In each step, you can fuck up eg not collect all relevant information, place something in the wrong pile, analyst has bias or is just not that good and intelligence is not passed on in a timely fashion. Simple examples of where the process can stuff up, but there are many more. That's how professional's do it.

This is just a long winded way of saying all information is not useful and to become useful, it must be analysed first, put into context. A classic example is Oct 7th. An atrocious event, terrorising and killing innocents totally out of the blue, catching all by surprise. Condemn strongly on that information alone. But when intelligence, other useful information, is taken into account, information like the perpetrator's had lived under brutal oppression and the attack was on their former land..........................changes things from unpredictable maniacs to a resistance.
Information in isolation is not always reliable. Needs confirmation and context. Be skeptical.

I think a major problem today is the "collection" process. With AI, computers, wi-fi and satellites etc they are swamped with information, overwhelmed. As individuals the same happens to us. So much so that collected information is not processed further properly. On a state level, intelligence is being ignored in favour of agendas.

great advice, critical thinking help too, since was 9 years old i watched our climate when i first heard of climate change i remember going to the big city and my mother said they say that's bad for the climate big white puffs of white coming out of the stack at the time i said to myself that looks more like water vapour. and so my investigation into the matter 10 years later catyaltic converters come in. did need them on the farm but help clean cities up a bit.