Library:The Misinformation Age
| The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread | |
|---|---|
| Author | Cailin O'Connor & James Owen Weatherall |
| First published | 2019 |
| ISBN | 978-0-300-23401-5 |
| Role | Analysis |
| Domains | Science & Environment Technology & Media |
| Tactics | Propaganda Technique Statistical & Evidentiary Distortion |
The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread is a 2019 book by Cailin O'Connor & James Owen Weatherall.
Summary
Cailin O'Connor and James Owen Weatherall, philosophers of science at the University of California, Irvine, published this book in 2019. Using historical cases and computer models of how beliefs spread through social networks, they argue that false beliefs persist not mainly because individuals are irrational, but because of how information moves between people.
Beliefs are social
The authors start from the fact that almost everything we believe comes from other people. We cannot check most claims ourselves, so we rely on those we trust. That makes knowledge a social achievement, and it means false beliefs can spread through a community even when every individual reasons sensibly.
Cases from science
The book draws its examples from the history of science, showing that even scientific communities, with the best methods available, can go wrong. They discuss the medieval belief in the "vegetable lamb of Tartary," a plant said to grow sheep, which was repeated by authorities for centuries; the rejection of Ignaz Semmelweis's evidence that doctors' unwashed hands were killing women in childbirth; and the slow acceptance of the link between chlorofluorocarbons and the depletion of the ozone layer.
What the models show
Using simple network models, the authors show how several social forces can push groups toward false beliefs. Conformity leads people to adopt the views of those around them. When people trust others mainly because they already agree with them, a community can split into polarized groups that no longer learn from each other, even when the evidence is shared.
The tobacco strategy
One of the book's most important findings concerns propaganda. Drawing on the tobacco industry's campaign, the authors show that a propagandist does not need to fabricate evidence. Simply funding research and sharing selectively, promoting the genuine studies that happen to favour one side and ignoring the rest, can mislead policymakers and the public. Journalistic norms of fairness, which give equal weight to both sides, can amplify the effect.
Remedies
The authors argue that improving individual reasoning is not enough. They call for changes to institutions: in how scientific research is funded and shared, how journalists report uncertainty and how democracies handle expertise.
Relevance to Bullshitopedia
The book explains why exposing false claims one by one is not enough; the structure of how information is shared matters as much as its content. Its account of selective sharing, deception made entirely of true facts, is directly relevant to the Statistical & Evidentiary Distortion tactic.