Fending Off Fakery

Post date: Dec 28, 2019 7:1:6 PM

How to contain the viral spread of misinformation and inoculate memory against it? It's possible to marshal a number of defenses, although they are only partially effective against an assault that is rapidly advancing in sophistication.

Information. Retractions don't always erase bad info from memory, but Stephan Lewandowsky has found that detailed retractions work better than simple ones, and repeating retractions enhances their effectiveness. Lewandowsky also recommends providing new facts to supplant wrong ones. Explaining where false facts came from heightens suspicions of bad sources. "We've evolved to believe things," he says. "We're not good at letting go of a belief unless it's replaced with an alternative that explains the world equally well."

Regulation. Banning misinformation is generally difficult because of first-amendment rights. However, scholars looking at "deepfakes" argue that some speech is not protected: speech that is fraudulent, defames private citizens, incites violence, or impersonates government officials. Individual creators and sharers of fake news are often hard to track down, and social media platforms can't easily be sued as publishers. Still, Facebook, Twitter, and Google are not immune to new regulation that assigns them more responsibility for their effects.

Filtering. The same types of AI technology used to mimic and manipulate humans online is also being used to filter out fake and bad-faith content. But fact-checking and the refinement of newsfeed algorithms require news analysis, moral judgment, and common sense, none of which can yet be automated. Hany Farid insists, "This is a very human problem; it's going to require human intervention."

Tilting toward disbelief. "The only real weapon is cynicism," Robert Nash proffers—while immediately recognizing its unworkability. Even if it were possible to pull off, questioning everything would come at the cost of everyday functioning. "Even as an expert in memory I don't go around distrusting my memory." But a little questioning goes a long way.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/201903/how-memory-became-weaponized