When we hit a critical mass of people disbelieving fact, and thus disbelieving facts will be a self-sustaining social illness, what damage can we expect? What can we do about it now? And what new needs will individuals have which charities, nonprofits and organisations will have to provide for?
I saw an interesting documentary series on Netflix called Connected. In the Benford’s Law episode a professor eerily revokes his previous prediction that (paraphrasing) ‘you won’t be able to tell fact from fiction’ as being the looming cataclysm of the artificial intelligent digital age. The professor then pivoted his statement to, ‘the issue is not that people will believe a falsehood to be true, as is happening now, but will disbelieve facts’. Due to fake new propaganda and social network algorithms suggesting news which confirms groupthink theories, it seems inevitable that facts will become a wide-spread point of contention.
I believe if the damage is severe, then answering and notifying charities of this impending issue, with strategies for now and in the future, we can sidestep some incredible losses charities may incur. Already donors have become distrusting in charities due to poor PR by The Red Cross during the Australian fires of 2020. A mass movement of distrust could end many areas of altruism… or at least be a real pain in the neck for the underfunded PR departments. I haven’t got enough expertise to comment, but maybe someone you know does?
[Question] Infohazards: The Future Is Disbelieving Facts?
When we hit a critical mass of people disbelieving fact, and thus disbelieving facts will be a self-sustaining social illness, what damage can we expect? What can we do about it now? And what new needs will individuals have which charities, nonprofits and organisations will have to provide for?
I saw an interesting documentary series on Netflix called Connected. In the Benford’s Law episode a professor eerily revokes his previous prediction that (paraphrasing) ‘you won’t be able to tell fact from fiction’ as being the looming cataclysm of the artificial intelligent digital age. The professor then pivoted his statement to, ‘the issue is not that people will believe a falsehood to be true, as is happening now, but will disbelieve facts’. Due to fake new propaganda and social network algorithms suggesting news which confirms groupthink theories, it seems inevitable that facts will become a wide-spread point of contention.
I believe if the damage is severe, then answering and notifying charities of this impending issue, with strategies for now and in the future, we can sidestep some incredible losses charities may incur. Already donors have become distrusting in charities due to poor PR by The Red Cross during the Australian fires of 2020. A mass movement of distrust could end many areas of altruism… or at least be a real pain in the neck for the underfunded PR departments. I haven’t got enough expertise to comment, but maybe someone you know does?