Living in the Age of Disinformation

By: infotechalive July 23, 2021

Living in the Age of Disinformation

The times have come to this that there is a host of false information, fuelling some propaganda or the other. We cannot ignore it and it boils down to our mental choices, so as to which one would we place our trust on and which to reject.

There are different fact checkers available online but those are effective in spreading right information only if the audience believes it to be credible. The non – believers would simply choose to dismiss the fact check to be biased and wrong. Cognitive dissonance is an integral part of the human thought process.

Then there are some who believe in the power of rising technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). AI can certainly be used to detect disinformation but in reality, more often than not, it is used to generate fake information. The time it takes to spread disinformation is much lesser as compared to real information. Rebuttals do not get as many clicks and gathers even fewer likes on social media. Lies have turned out to be more profitable than the truth for those who are running their jobs with an agenda.

Machines can make us know the real information but at the end of the day it is up to the general awareness and consciousness of the individual human minds to use their logical thinking and senses to choose their source of information. AI is not capable of making us accept what we do not want to. Creating opinions has become very easy with the mass appeal of different online environments which form our world view. Technology is not capable enough to save us from ourselves!

A Ray of Hope

There are various regulations and penalties which are being enforced for spreading wrongful information. These make people conscious before spreading untrue things. Society as a whole is addicted to spiced up information and does not bother to confirm its authenticity. Treating the addict seems to be the only way to get rid of this menace.

Debates and discussions on this Age of Disinformation needs to be encouraged more and more.