Transcripts For DW Democracy Of The Gullible 20240712

The show that alcohol vetoed made for minds. Of the following is neither a hoax nor a conspiracy do not adjust your computer telephone tablet or television we will be controlling all that you seen and hear and maybe even what you think so sit back relax and enjoy the world cup and to bias. In less than 20 years the internet revolution has had a deep impact on Human Behavior than all other media is about today it even affects the way we think. Imagined and invented stories and even outright lies have become prominent in our media landscape how could this be. What underpins that popularity. Why is it that weve come to down to expert testimony. Could it be that all brains are predisposed towards compelling nonsense. When the World Wide Web was invented in the 1990 s. It was imagined as a democratic space that would provide everyone direct access to all of Human Knowledge yet today it seems knowledge is being eclipsed by conviction and we are all at risk of being dragged down into a democracy of the gullible. Usual greece agrees of theres now a competition between information providers from professional journalists to anyone with a facebook or twitter profile to capture our finite attention that would use but. I never look at twitter and never comment on anything on twitter on face or likely if you keep hearing on t. V. About something going viral so what the other one was the last time a you to a comic change someones opinion. The internet has profoundly changed how we communicate as well as the rules of disseminating information. The value of truth and facts has been diminished online opinions are ranked according to engagement so that a much liked Facebook Post can be more prominent than an encyclopedia entry. In it if you dont like how the popular content is a problem because that determines whether it can reach and attempt to convince me its going to become more important is it possibly to do the likelihood of capturing peoples attention is increased if you shape your content to follow the direction of the brains natural bias ease elf. The internet today is full of manipulation beliefs and superstitions. And the key culprit is not Google Facebook or even the illuminati but our very own brains. Our mind sometimes lead us away from objective reality they allow a number of shortcuts deviations from russian analyse that serve as entry point to socalled Cognitive Biases. These biases act on the way we think that bit like how an optical illusion fools they are but recognising our little intellectual lapses is difficult for us as it would be for a person who was born blind to understand an optical illusion. Take this checkerboard boxes a and b. Are exactly the same shade of gray but even when the illusion is revealed we continue to feel there is some kind of trick. We can see just how powerful these effects are and magic magicians are masters and manipulating Cognitive Biases. Thats all of it if we removed all biases it would be very difficult to make magic come to life but it probably wouldnt be perceived as magic but as special effects the true emotion we feel the sense of wonder we have watching magic im not sure there would be any of that left without our inherent bias is that. Magician luke learns far create illusions that seem to defy the laws of physics. He does so also by exploiting our Natural Inclination to believe. Also so i think over time the human brain created certain shortcuts that enable us to be more efficient but which also lead to errors of perception. Cognitive biases may make us more efficient in everyday life but they explode online. Here our natural weaknesses are exploited. And his poke the democracy of the gullible drop of a well known sociologist from the paris de gaulle university has dissected the various biases in our brains that influence our judgement on the internet starting with doubt. The downside is fundamental especially in democracies people have a fundamental right to doubt things from official communications to scientific proposals but as i follow painfully learned the seeds of doubt can be easily planted sometimes just for the sake of doing so. Gives the right to doubt is not accompanied by jus diligence its a real threat to democracy. On the Internet Data is amplified by countless untrustworthy sources and although there are tools to check the truth of posts few people make that effort. For example you dont a priori believe that a man never walked on the moon. That this would probably sword on t. V. And so forth but by utilizing doubts we can tell you a story that will lead you step by step to a conclusion that seemed completely unlikely at 1st. The belief that Neil Armstrong never set foot on the moon is untenable the u. S. S. R. Would have been delighted to the now even the slightest deception it was easy for them to aim their antennas towards the moon to confirm or refute the transmission. And for those who say a satellite could have broadcast the images from space remember that in 1969 a 100 megabyte disk weighed a ton the saturn 5 rocket may have been able to transport the d. V. D. Into space it would have had no room left for a player to play it on. Board a ferris wheel and 20092012 evidence from indian chinese and american probes put an end to the room as she will need to do to do if you were to doubt everything you couldnt live view for example youd say i know ill burn my hand if i put it close to a fire because ive already done that but what about my fruit my head i havent tried those yet let that i see. How Cognitive Biases and our emotions influence reasoning is a subject of great interest to is about it shes a professor at the university of could beck a tough. It didnt bear how many doubt allows us to reassess our beliefs but at the same time we dont abandon everything because of one example that contradicts what we believe. Or we have a tendency to characterize and categorize things are actually a new normal stools of our victory near us. We have an innate predisposition to attend to human faces this is crucial for recognising people. But the same bias can lead us to question facts and believe in the presence of for example an ancient civilization on mars. And thats our void in mash our brain is a sense made on machine so it isnt surprising that we have difficulty accepting coincidence as an explanation yet when we see you know why shaped cloud in the sky of course theres no unicorn there but our brains superimposes that impression. And we see those types of cognitive processes often if at any point you saw them all and. If we asked a person whether they would use the numbers 1234561 lottery tickets most would say no because theyd feel they wouldnt win on the on this side of what i think is best here because of the guy. We constantly encounter content that exploits our difficulties and understanding statistics and probabilities i dismissal of coincidence as explanation influences our preferences in the tarrant of information point. Of the deregulation of the Information Market jannah some of our minds natural slopes for example if you have one chance in a 1000 of hitting the bulls eye with a dart its only extraordinary if you hit it if you havent tried a 1000 times where. The need for the manipulation is too. Nor the sample sizes amid the 999 tries that failed film the one that succeeded and say hes incredibly talented isnt here quietly more do we still. These days we are ceaseless lee alerted to very low risks and that has turned us into a society of mind the contracts something that may have been useful in the past but is now cumbersome. For example we have retained our craving for sugar despite the consequences this has for our bodies such biases and heritage from our ancestors and not defects per se on not only want that long ago certain bias seas were arguably extremely useful lets say you lived in a hostile environment if you heard a rustling in the bushes it would be better to overestimate the risk and run because if you dont you might not be around long enough to tell the tale and pass on your genetic code. But in the jungle of the internet overestimating the rest can lead to troubling results. So conspiracists often think that when 2 events occur at the same time its not a coincidence. Theres a correlation is not the same as causation but if things are related people see causality. Each on her studied physics before specializing in the history of science hes particularly interested in the evolution of critical thinking. It was something as our lawyers destroying it is like killing i was it had its knack its an infinite terrorists theres a law that says if it takes this much energy to create crash it itll take 100 times more to destroy it legally. A lot this law was formulated by a better put on the lenient Italian Program in 2013 a lot of. Which study i quote from god it starts out that. Shit spray the list with next year should get equal to about that it must be that he studied. Under leading formulated this principle after observing italys former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi Lifetime Television without anyone being able to set the record straight. Not enough but i think they see. This principle is used and abused by scam as conspiracists and a growing number of politicians. On a market where we say everyone has a right to speak which is good and everyones likes the truth which is another thing our minds including mine will be tempted to accept that which resembles truth even if it contradicts the actual truth. We have a mental tendency to accept the latest Conspiracy Theory wave after wave hug do you have any. So we might begin by being wary of palm oil rightly or wrongly that brings us to another Science Research is about something entirely different israels role in the terrorist attacks for example this aggregates into a multi layered construct which is intimidating even for those who do not believe it and. On this bear they are in the early to thousands we still hopes that the internet would spread massive amounts of knowledge but that hasnt happened at all secure and ordered its a funny type of democracy its what i call the democracy of the gullible yes its true the internet is democratizing because it gives everyone access to public space but while some voter a 1000 times others never voted at all and often those who vote most carry the strongest and most radical convictions and beliefs do quite yall swaddle had to sit on a where you generally associate with those who think like our cities and view those who dont as fools young someone things like us often we tend to believe theyre intelligent but theyre someone it would be nice to have coffee with them all this is exactly whats happening on the internet except much worse. As opinions are polarized into opposing camps diversity of viewpoints and nuances disappear. Small highly motivated groups often attract so many clicks that their positions appear to be much more representative than they really are. There is a tyranny of minorities who are louder than others unfortunately tyrannies know how to exploit the apathy of good reasonable people. See today its astonishing how conspiracy theories use highly technical arguments in a wide variety of fields. d said i can really design them up you accumulate arguments that have nothing to do with each other and which are all quite weak but bundled together the unprepared mind thinks they cant all be false. Thats why conspiracy theories all the Anti Vaccine Movement have such persuasive power that its not that people believe each and every argument but there are so many of them. Yet there are. Mental shortcuts help our brains save energy but they also lead to biases such as the least effort principle which make us an easier target. Early to rule is an conspiracy theories have existed for a long time in human imagination. Rehashing is an internet speciality since old fake news is quickly forgotten it can be used again as fresh news a few months later. Unlike us the internet never forgets. The net that better move do you know since the internet has transformed an oral tradition into a written one at it with the copy paste function its easy to distribute silly nonsense. That hes going to call for the seculars that it does its like a dialogue of the deaf when a small group like the 911. 00 truth theres Still Believes the fall of the twin towers was a government conspiracy you do to. Relief that its impossible for an inexperienced pilot to fly a boeing with control because a video game or fail to do so is far from reality. Once in the air when flying is almost childs play secret you could train a chimpanzee to do it. Deploy furthermore no one had ever seen an aircraft crash a full speed into one of the most solid buildings ever built the general pentagon good. To get excited its pointless to argue with those who believe in conspiracy theories such as that the American Government deciding illions. The Mainstream Media shouldnt feed off twitter reports only legitimate news and not engage with things that are pure delerium. Oh shit. The least effort principle might be seen as the father of all biases being lazy can be useful i mean can all be a bit. On the. We dont have the power to completely disconnect from our prior knowledge an expectation is hopes and emotions. We are almost always biased only process information folks who doesnt necessarily battle it serves a function it reduces the difficulty of processing our environment. It to fact there are 2 ways to accomplish a reasoning task one is more in shoes with automatic and faster and demands less continuity of juice the other exercises reasoning and reflection and requires more competent resources. You know not to too far is a great article saying that 70 percent of Internet Users only read headlines and to prove it the body was in placeholder text many people shared it saying 70 percent of Internet Users only read headlines. This kind of production if it is frightening gleeful most of all so our brains are lazy in general we go through every day life and belief mode. And believe mode has advantages over knowledge because it doesnt require much effort we just believe on quell this. Stuff. The belief about camp trails imagines a conspiracy whereby the American Government and the pharmaceutical industry use airlines to spread toxic substances to poison people and influence world affairs. The main suspects are human reptile hybrids and more luminati a young tree. Good quite there are many erroneous beliefs that dont have any knock on effects people believe the sun moves around the earth its what they see every day the sun rises in the east and sets in the west the scientific truth here is a tract so it was fiction vitebsk that i thought that they could you share lets not worry about such in consequential beliefs we should focus on those beliefs that have consequences. If a group wants to change the law because they believe in can trails thats something we should deal with also on a good by. Everyone has opinions i always say twitter and facebook are really just part talk all this that on a global scale. That given the past bartok always stayed at the bar where as now our nonsense is put on twitter and broadcast to the world. Even the most intelligent person in the world could still be fooled by a magician. Because that person does not have access to all the information the magician has. Which can lead to the impression of prescient well teleportation well the spontaneous appearance of an object or an object at all yet theres over clear is always a trick im convinced that even Albert Einstein could have been taken in by magic we know theres a trick but we like to forget while watching the real ordeal. Unlike the internet we do not have unlimited resources the principle of least effort makes us accept easy explanations we only see what we want to see and we adopt the majority view. That all the vision we invent a magic trick we create those conditions ultimately we for the brain and make it draw false conclusion its all falls. The fact that out of focus to rely on automatic cognitive processes allows the internet to make use of anything that is likely to deceive. The spread of computer viruses and online scams are good examples as these largely play on our instinctive biases of our mental love for it takes a similar skill set to plan a bank robbery as to come up with a trick that puts a cell phone inside a bottle that it doesnt what they call this thing in Computer Science a virus is generally a Program Designed to act maliciously on a computer mansurs most all of the other women right since shes from st to. Deal with 2 documents for both people pick them up to convince your employer. Actions world. Where one person for the purpose of not because you. Are. Magic is often associated with scams because we use similar tactics. The simplest advice which sadly is seldom followed is to carry out updates. The least effort principle is a boon for scam artists we rarely change default settings and often use predictable passwords. The best and i dont think anyone is 100 percent protective we all have subconscious prejudices we all have things we believe or want to believe any one of us can be fooled by a scammer who pulls the right string and appears at the right moment while. Computer experts have more information than most of us. We sometimes forget that storing data in the cloud actually mean sending it to massive data centers. Of course data that there are many many websites that talk about ken treys the loch ness monster and such. Lets consider how many sites Internet Users may visit to learn about a subject well of course we devote most wont look at more than 30 pounds so if we take the top 30 sites listed on Google Search and look at how many support a particular belief or ya how many argue it out from a rational point of view us and how many a neutral we find that 70 percent of those sites will support a belief with this he gets off of ogling quite yes. Cognitive biases help us to tame our fear of the unknown we have a tendency to adopt the 1st belief that fills a void. When you ask someone whether theyre superstitious most will say no thats you its been shown that superstition is related to uncertain situations that say our brain is trying to control our environment thats probably one reason why weve survived this well. To make sense out of a disturbing event people and situations where they are losing or of lost control or more easily rely on beliefs superstitions and conspiracy. These. In everyday life the feeling of losing control often translates into accept just touching wood for luck consulting horoscopes or exploring new beliefs. Is the owner of a specialist boutique in quebec that serves an ever growing demand. On additional we are other times we cannot control in our lives. I believe that when we are more balanced its easier to navigate these moments. I dont think i wrote a song. But rather its a direction. Superstitions have long roads to millennia after ptolemy no one has updated the zodiac although the constellations have moved on most people who believe they were born under the sign of virgo for example probably werent. Those watching the ball to be able to discern evaluate we generally need to have Something Else to compare it to so if there is an object being sold for 20 although its normally worth for a normal brain will feel this is a good deal right. Now for his we can call an anchor bias. According to the anchor bias we rely heavily on the 1st piece of information we receive this goes beyond economics. Professor of Cognitive Sciences and is especially interested in and curative theories as children we tend to form our own theories about the world that are meant to explain every day events around us but are necessarily accurate as they dont necessarily comply with the scientific view of the world but these intuitive ideas never go away that are suppressed. And if a person is burdened under time pressure or has a lot on their mind this intuitive understanding we emerges with. It took us a lot longer to say that a plant was alive than to say an animal was alive because plants dont move so our earliest understanding of a live just meant something that can move on its own. With the confirmation we have developed a series of automatic responses that make us more efficient as we go through daily life one analogy visiting a country which is a very different culture. Can feel that we experience cognitive fatigue because we are constantly having to learn such an expectation is in our knowledge a very useful enabling us to function on a daily basis. Cognitive laziness does not necessarily translate to lack of energy on the contrary believe is often increased their efforts to solidify that belief secure true believers are more motivated than the average citizen and because they are more driven by occupy the spaces left empty in the deregulated Information Markets are empty chairs in this market and good. Use of that produces a terrible effect these tyranny of minorities can convince people who are undecided to side with then. Another powerful effect on line is conformity conformity is an active part of confirmation bias members of a Homogenous Group will ruthlessly reject any element that does not conform to their collective beliefs. Yes the internet is extraordinary but we must be able to train people so that in the future they can read the internet. To what it is i do the bending utensils trick officers because i know that some people think it really is possible imagine that its in our collective imagination because of everything that happened around. Because of what theyve seen in films that allows them to dream. Believing in fantasies helps us to feel cognitive forwards and may make us feel like were privy to a secret like were one of the initiators. A good example is the discussion surrounding the many theories about how entrant monuments were built. A few times the base of the Great Pyramid of giza divided by its height roughly 3. 14 dividing the large circle around the base by the small circle where then gets the speed of light and then theres the golden ratio one wonders who designed these. Age groups the ones who get most of their Information Online a younger people get the older and theyre also the most likely to believe what they read online about them that. I couldnt imagine my life without the internet thats for sure if they do i mean books are good but work appears like unlimited books facebook. Twitter and snap chat give any of us so. Most of the information on facebook isnt necessarily credible. But young people dont come here to buy magazines they buy no magazines newspapers no more anybody. Who a miach or 10 years young man around young not know me. The key is proportions have a factor of 2. 64755 that of the pair met squared this gives us 7 the number of virginity we find pi again and the speed of light so who designed this mysterious chaos compares. Our company to have biases help us filter in part to avoid cognitive overload. These mental watchdogs are not so much essential as they are never going to. Get on the internet and a manner of filtering is quickly seen as controlled propaganda and concealment. By. This Information Market was once regulated by gatekeepers by guardians of the threshold but usual which is to say journalists politicians academics and a whole series of people who were trusted to disseminate information in public spaces as opposed to. The internet anyone can express their opinions to the world directly and thats good. But in the nixon era we were lucky that there were honest players within a society of the spectacle. Just as it did this bit that was really in their members today there isnt even a spectacle today its a society of ads about a spectacle. To to. Draw least in us to. Any journalist academic or writer who has tried to expose or criticize these things that any given moment down themselves immediately accused of being part of a conspiracy. When things go viral we rarely check the content against expert testimony before believing that. Our Cognitive Biases discourage us from investing the time and effort. By a lot of skill in the past when we. In the book we knew that someone had taken the trouble to write it edit it and to get it published studies because of this it was a fisted he has a process that if youre posting on social networks is something you can do with one hand on your smartphone on a bus in order to visit. But the 1st battle the battle for attention has been won. Were in an attention economy where the amount of the brain time you can bring to your site is monetized Information Available has greatly increased since the early 2000 us all. We need to see these on the condition it is and you do need it and you know what they say about men with small arms. If you have to speak very loudly and one way of speaking loudly in the information economy is to make outrageous statements you know the 2nd amendment people maybe there is a. Deregulated Information Market also means tension had to radicalize discourse and the uncomfortable feeling of living in a society where everyone is saying it because i. Was clear that political debates in the us but not only in the us tend towards hysteria its just easy. Nothing we can receive better than playing on Public Opinion and for instance disseminating accusations about politicians sex life or secret photos the futile so even if these arent published the damage is done defuses i may go 90 feet of political fight seem to have become battles for attention more than for conviction. If you can fool people also for political ends i think the electoral process is unfortunately very similar to misleading and deceiving people. Traditionally journalists whether watchdogs have democracies. But can they hold on to this role in a Virtual World and if not who will replace them. And will use your priest anonymous were not. And also thugs we are well romantics just human beings idealists who want to see a better future. As a young computer entrepreneur and a proud member of anonymous a movement striving to reclaim freedom of expression and the internet era he agreed to be interviewed without a mask. Suki this saying that you dont need your communications to be private because youre not a criminal is similar to saying you dont need freedom of speech because you have nothing to say about low. Anyone conclude. You cant return with. Good law where theres a place for a foreign coach for her. For research so if a game. Its not a crime to have values thats where the dark is an attempt to regain independence and freedom of communication between humans. Sure russia to. The International Russian t. V. Network financed by the kremlin post all sorts of conspiracy theories originating in very ideological circles. In murky delusional russia to the. Of. Our team has often shown journalism that wins awards. Support. That maybe prove that the truth is not necessarily to be found in Mainstream Media. You wont who says we distrust the media the press or even scientific experts on certain issues. Politically motivated misinformation and disinformation further amplify feelings of mistrust and insecurity. Its like a hobby to do if someone is fashion it about collecting the champagne corks they can devote hours and hours to it i believe that here we are dealing with people whove gone crazy about their hobby who. Continue to do it you can prove to glisten conspiracy theories doesnt mean that they dont exist. Its called your when we do it arouses extraordinarily violent reactions see it will go over insults and name calling to intimidation it actual threats of world of element us. Conversing with people you dont know one line who often use pseudonyms amplifies the violence of these exchanges it doesnt take long before you compare the other to hitler or a nazi as equal work. When Shirley Abdul was attacked in france conspiracy theories were online just hours later the desert january 7th on the day of the attack i logged more than 20 different conspiracy theories that will lead to what you call brooke 4 days later they were already more than 100 argument of you and you can put. These i can evolve myself among people who feel as if their integrity to be attacked when i also feel their fundamental belief that the world is a safe place has been champion im only down on the security that. Descend from a sham can maintain a state of denial it gives us the impression that we have regained a certain amount of control allowing us to keep our faith and our strongest convictions. You see if we listen to the media we end up hating ourselves as muslims and each other. Prefer i prefer to believe in conspiracy theories i found sources but i cant cite them im a muslim and i dont want to believe those people can kill in the name of god is what little is new of war scholars exit terrorists have a psychological intuition about what their actions provoke in people. Kill physical labor how this kind of terror shakes the fundamental belief that one needs to have to live in our societies the confidence that our lives will not be menaced every day and honestly at least will move. A loss of control bias can have a direct impact on other types of beliefs such as on the belief in conspiracies. By conforming you can give in to an idea and feel that it has always been your truth up a bit like a revelation it will never communicate relax your infant sure spirity theories can be consoling i dont like this reality so i find another and fully. Support claim that we dont have a true problems with u. T. Its a trust problem. To paraphrase brenda lees know it takes a fasten times more effort to reestablish trust and to shake it. Instant access to all of Human Knowledge has paradoxically brought us to a place where we have devoted less and less time to being one of informed and fewer people paying heed to scientific fact. On earth is that that if we all have cell phones but few people really understand how they work its a bit like magic of them as weak see it as a financial mixing up serious fact with crazy information to excite certain natural tendencies in our minds just because we say whats this story about giants they discovered skeleton really were even if we dont believe it we want to see the fake photos put geeks it up. We must be wary of what we call the authorities all white coat effect you appear on t. V. In a White Lab Coat and all of a sudden you have more authority. If it comes from a site no one has heard of but ask yourself there are other sites talking about this if its unbelievable spectacular news in just one side is talking about it suspicious. Spit series if youre me if you state that theres a limoges teapot orbiting mars or pluto well then its up to you to prove it its not for me to say no theres not i cant prove that it doesnt exist but but if it is true but. However there is adapted conspiracy theories leave it to others to refute their beliefs planting doubt is enough for them. You believe that humans could have rubbed shoulders with dinosaurs is easier to swallow than the fact that mice and elephants have a common ancestor the creationist movement uses this belief to joyfully discredit the evolution of the species yes you know some creationists have made it into universities and swear in the name of science that you badly photoshop photos of storks could be terrible. To hell with science films and cartoons loved the idea of rubbing shoulders with dinosaurs. But you know as soon as theres a division of knowledge i have to trust my colleagues otherwise id have to always repeat every experiment which is impossible. Which was fulfilled that you feel i think we need to recognize differences and constantly distinguish we need to reestablish hierarchies where there is a tendency to level all sources of information onto the same plane of. Information market revolution has to be accompanied by an Education Revolution to develop truly critical minds that. We all have cognition and biases they are present within us no matter how intelligent or educated we are. But you point out extinguish the part of our brains that loves to discover things that is curious and loves to grow. And i know it exists. Perhaps the internet paradox is just a pendulum effect between knowledge and belief there are young people who are creatively reinventing networks of qualitatively valuable knowledge but for now with our cognitive bias says i need to figure about critical minds can protect us from the trap of the democracy of the gullible. To the point of strong opinions clear positions international perspectives. Coronavirus continues to spread relentlessly and its the poor who are suffering most both in better off industrialized countries and in the global south so how should the International Community respond join me in my guess song to the point shortly. To the point. In 30 minutes on d w. Are they friends. Or. Are they enemies. Now before the project. Donald trump and flooding near to our 2 part documentary analyzes the difficult relationship between russia and the u. S. And between their president s how does their rivalry and their dangerous mutual admiration affect the rest of the worlds. Bosom bullies trump and putin starts august 3rd on d w. What secrets lie behind. Discover new adventures in 360 degree. And explore fascinating World Heritage site. P. W. World heritage 360 get the maps now. This is g w news live from berlin and escape from hong kong the u. K. Opens a door for hong kong ers who want to leave britain pledges to admit millions of people from its former colony after china imposes a sweeping security law but is leaving hong kong a realistic option also coming up in ethiopia an emotional farewell to the slain or romo see