Living in a world of misinformation, as we do, has led certain smart people to embrace a new idea.
“Pre-bunking”.
Sort of like “debunking” but better.
Some experts are suggesting that this idea is crucially important… as AI takes over the job of spreading misinformation. The lies we get from business and government leaders, all too often, strike us as obviously bogus. (Except among folks eager to adopt conspiracy theories.) This is essentially why AI was developed. To make government and corporate lies more believable.
But what might be misinformation to one group or government is the unvarnished truth to another group or government. So for the past several years, we’ve been watching misinformation batted back and forth like a ping pong ball. No sooner do we find out that the economy is doing better than its done in decades, then we hear that the economy is in the toilet.
Attempts to debunk the lies have consistently failed to change anyone’s mind. Mine included.
Traditionally, the debunking duties were assigned mainly to the media, because — and I am speaking here as a card-carrying member of the media — we are intimately familiar with lies and misinformation. It’s our bread and butter, so to speak.
But nowadays, most Americans don’t believe what they read in the newspaper, or see on TV. So the debunking has been handed over to Big Tech —search engines and social media — in the expectation that they can do a better job than the media. (Pardon me while I try to stop laughing.)
The timing of this effort is related to the ongoing election campaigns, a time when misinformation blossoms like dandelions all across the Great Global Lawn, and sends its delicate seeds floating on the lightest breeze.
Enter, stage left, “pre-bunking”, which could be described as an intellectual form of “vaccination”.
Daily Post readers are probably aware of vaccinations, from a couple of years back when they were the latest fad. The general idea is to inoculate people with a small piece of a virus or bacteria — supposedly, a harmless small piece — which then trains the body to recognize and fight the real virus or bacteria when it eventually arrives in full battle armor.
“Pre-bunking” builds on the same concept, except using a small piece — supposedly, a harmless small piece — of misinformation. This will (theoretically) train the inoculated person’s consciousness to recognize and fight the real misinformation when it arrives. In full battle armor.
Election officials and researchers from Arizona to Taiwan recognize that their past attempts to combat misinformation have been ineffective (to say the least). So they are developing pre-bunking campaigns designed to expose people to “weakened doses” of misinformation paired with explanations, to help the public develop “mental antibodies” to recognize and fend off hoaxes, in a heated election year.
Leading up to this week’s European Union election, Google and partner organizations have been blanketing voters with colorful cartoon ads on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram meant to inoculate European voters against common election lies and rumors.
Google says it has no plans to launch such a campaign in the United States, which makes no sense to me. We Americans can spread lies as well as the Europeans any day of the week, and twice on Sunday.
However, humbler campaigns are springing up in locations across the nation, including Arizona’s Maricopa County, where election officials are enlisting local celebrities such as the Phoenix Suns basketball team to promote voting and explain the procedures.
“By the time the disinformation is out there, we’re really not going to be able to convince a lot of people,” said Riley Vetterkind, a public information officer for Wisconsin’s bipartisan Elections Commission. “That’s why pre-bunking has become so much more important.”
Of course, this whole effort is based on the idea that vaccination works. We all remember Joe Biden telling us, in July 2021, “You’re not going to get COVID if you have these vaccinations.”
A year later, he got COVID. So did millions of other vaccinated people. That doesn’t give me a lot of hope for “pre-bunking” information campaigns.
But my main fear is that my Daily Post humor columns will eventually get pre-bunked. That would not be pleasant.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all.