Misinformation
Daniel Mirny; 14+; 1-2 meetings. Class will be taught in English.
Prerequisites: 18.755 Lie Groups and Lie Algebras II
The World Economic Forum releases an annual list of global risks, ordered by severity. The (aptly named) 2024 Global Risks Report had Misinformation/Disinformation in 1st place for short-term (2yr) risks and in 5th place for long-term (10yr) risks.
We see information every day. From time to time, we share false information (usually by accident). I've witnessed most of you do this (on Facebook and Instagram) in the past year or so (I assume by accident). I've done it too (usually by accident...).
Misinformation is difficult to detect and even harder to combat. It's an active field of research across a number of academic disciplines and is a major focus for policymakers. I'll structure our (probably 1, maybe 2) discussion(s) at CCC as CCC:
Context – what spreads, where, how, why
Cognition – information processing, perception, and memory
Combating – approaches we've tried, what has worked, what hasn't, what's left
Come hungry. (I don't mean intellectually, I mean we'll be meeting before lunch).