Reality by Algorithm

Technology has democratized access to information and journalism—and has given rise to ‘citizen journalists’ who are able to provide powerful eyewitness accounts globally. Thanks to the Internet, news can be reported faster than ever. There are many good things about these technological developments.

But there’s a dark side too.

The pursuit of truth is getting increasingly more difficult, and the manufacturing of it—easier.  These days, there are plenty of fake news stories that spread quickly through social networks with the help of bot farms before making their way into the mainstream. Algorithms learn about what readers like and give them of it. How far away are we before those same algorithms are used to influence our decisions? Or are we already there? It’s been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Then photoshop came along. A video is worth more. But what happens when you can’t believe your own eyes and ears? Is it a deep-fake or real person speaking? Are you sure you ca…