How does misinformation spread?

Authors

Jack Russell Weinstein, University of North DakotaFollow
Cailin O'Connor, University of California, Irvine
James Owen Weatherall, University of California, Irvine

Files

Description

The term fake news is so ubiquitous, that sometimes it seems like we should be labeling the true stuff instead of the lies. But misinformation doesn’t just come from politics. It is found in science, in marketing, and even in fourteenth-century memoirs. Why do we believe obvious falsities and how do these alternative facts gain such momentum? On this episode, we look going to look at the networks of knowledge and trust that we rely on to arbitrate between fact and fiction, and examine how they are manipulated, both consciously and not.

Cailin O’Connor is associate professor of logic and philosophy of science at the University of California, Irvine. James Owen Weatherall is professor of logic and philosophy of science at the University of California, Irvine, and author of the New York Times best-seller The Physics of Wall Street. Both are members of the Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Science and co-authors of the book The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread.

Publication Date

4-14-2019

Publisher

Institute for Philosophy in Public Life

Disciplines

Philosophy

Recommended Citation

Weinstein, Jack Russell; O'Connor, Cailin; and Weatherall, James Owen, "How does misinformation spread?" (2019). Why? Radio Podcast Archive. 13.
https://commons.und.edu/why-radio-archive/13