Dr. Christopher DiCarlo

As published in Humanist Perspectives, August 2, 2023

There has never been a time in history when we have seen such a proliferation of false information in the form of misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories. But why? And why now? And why so much? And why is some either coming from or being endorsed by the 45th President of the United States as well as other world leaders?((Many of the ideas expressed in this paper come from research conducted in developing a course and subsequent book called: How to Talk to a Conspiracy Theorist. For those interested in taking this course online, it is available at The Life Institute at Toronto Metropolitan University and will be taught in the Fall of 2023.))

Unlike any other time in history, we are inundated with information from many sources of media.

Unlike any other time in history, we are inundated with information from many sources of media. And we are racing to catch up to what is reliable, dependable, and true – all the while, feeling deep, emotional, attachments to our personal understanding of important issues while trying to avoid misinformation or worse, disinformation. The use of Critical Thinking skills, guided by patience and persistence, can help us better identify, understand, and denounce false information in all its forms. Critical thinking lies at the root of all sound reasoning and provides the greatest likelihood for epistemic responsibility – that is, the ability to responsibly acquire, interpret, and act on reliably attained evidence- based information. Knowing how to become more responsible in formulating beliefs leads naturally to personal empowerment.

At this point in human history, what we can say with some confidence about the future spreading of false information is that the worldwide situation is probably going to get worse before it gets better. Now, we can only speculate about how such forms of false information will play out in the future. But one of the things we can say with some certainty is that, as long as there are complex societies, internet connections, and politics, the spreading of false information will be with us for quite some time to come.

Unfortunately, since 2016, the world has witnessed the most outspoken US Presidential conspiracy theorist: Donald Trump. The future of false information is a future filled with a variety of people in positions of power who, not through expertise, but rather characteristics like charisma, or charm, or bullshit, will become the predominant forces in spreading false information. One of the most powerful tools in recent history for allowing for the proliferation of false information is the endorsement of it by people in positions of power who simultaneously create doubt regarding the objectivity and truthfulness of mainstream media. Socrates and Plato warned against this type of demagoguery noting that when voters care more about the cult of personality than what’s best for the citizens, democracies can implode and fall into ruin. If we add to this cocktail of con-artistry some powerful developing AI technologies such as GPT-4, DALL·E 2, and Video Deep Fakes, we can envision a future in which we will need to develop reliable sources and technologies that can hopefully tell us what information is real and what is not. Stopping the spread of false information is going to become an increasingly difficult arms race and, unfortunately, stopping people from believing in it will become just as difficult.

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