8th Layer Insights - The Battle for Truth: Disinformation, Misinformation, & Conspiracies

The Battle for Truth: Disinformation, Misinformation, & Conspiracies

06/08/21 • 63 min

This is an episode about the battle for truth. As disinformation, misinformation, malinformation, and conspiracy theories seem to be hitting epidemic levels, how can we help each other determine what is real and what is fake? How can we help people who are falling down conspiracy rabbit holes? And what roles do technology companies, governments, and ordinary citizens play?

Perry Carpenter speaks with acclaimed cybersecurity expert, Bruce Schneier, disinformation experts, Samantha North and Allie Wong, and conspiracy theory researcher, Mick West. In this episode, we also hear from Peter Leyden from Reinvent and Eli Periser, author of The Filter Bubble.

Learn more about our guests here:

Bruce Schneier - Internationally renowned security technologist, author, and speaker. You can find Bruce's website here.
Allie Wong - VP of Mis/dis/mal-information, Response and Resiliency, Limbik; Consultant, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research. (LinkedIn)
Samantha North - Disinformation researcher and consultant. (LinkedIn) Co-Founder: North Cyber Research (website)
Mick West - Skeptical investigator and retired video game programmer. Creator of the websites Contrail Science (website) and Metabunk (website). Author of Escaping the Rabbit Hole: How to Debunk Conspiracy Theories Using Facts, Logic, and Respect (link). Personal website (link).

Special thanks to Reinvent for allowing use of audio.

References:

Recommended Books (Amazon affiliate links):

Escaping the Rabbit Hole: How to Debunk Conspiracy Theories Using Facts, Logic, and Respect by Mick West.
Click Here to Kill Everybody: Security and Survival in a Hyper-connected World by Bruce Schneier.
The Filter Bubble: How the New Personalized Web Is Changing What We Read and How We Think by Eli Pariser.
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.
Why Are We Yelling?: The Art of Productive Disagreement by Buster Benson.
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt.
Transformational Security Awareness: What Neuroscientists, Storytellers, and Marketers Can Teach Us About Driving Secure Behaviors by Perry Carpenter.

Music and Sound Effects by Blue Dot Sessions & Storyblocks.

Artwork by Chris Machowski.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about our guests here:

Bruce Schneier - Internationally renowned security technologist, author, and speaker. You can find Bruce's website here.
Allie Wong - VP of Mis/dis/mal-information, Response and Resiliency, Limbik; Consultant, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research. (LinkedIn)
Samantha North - Disinformation researcher and consultant. (LinkedIn) Co-Founder: North Cyber Research (website)
Mick West - Skeptical investigator and retired video game programmer. Creator of the websites Contrail Science (website) and Metabunk (website). Author of Escaping the Rabbit Hole: How to Debunk Conspiracy Theories Using Facts, Logic, and Respect (link). Personal website (link).

Special thanks to Reinvent for allowing use of audio.

References:

Recommended Books (Amazon affiliate links):

Escaping the Rabbit Hole: How to Debunk Conspiracy Theories Using Facts, Logic, and Respect by Mick West.
Click Here to Kill Everybody: Security and Survival in a Hyper-connected World by Bruce Schneier.
The Filter Bubble: How the New Personalized Web Is Changing What We Read and How We Think by Eli Pariser.
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.
Why Are We Yelling?: The Art of Productive Disagreement by Buster Benson.
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt.
Transformational Security Awareness: What Neuroscientists, Storytellers, and Marketers Can Teach Us About Driving Secure Behaviors by Perry Carpenter.

Music and Sound Effects by Blue Dot Sessions & Storyblocks.

Artwork by Chris Machowski.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Previous Episode

Unleashing Trojan Horses for the Mind

This episode explores the concept of “Trojan Horses for the Mind.” There are four Trojan Horses. They are: emotion, sound, visuals, and words/story. Using these Trojan Horses will help us increase the signal to noise ratio in our communications, bypass mental defenses, and embed messages within the minds of our audiences.

To explore the concepts related to this, Perry speaks with voice actor, writer, and producer, Rob McCollum; author, marketer, and storytelling expert Joe Lazauskas; and executive storyteller coach and trainer, Stephanie Paul.

Learn more about our guests here:

Rob McCollum -- Voice actor, script writer, director, producer (LinkedIn). Rob's IMDB page.
Joe Lazauskas -- Head of Marketing at Contently. Author of, The Storytelling Edge. LinkedIn. Amazon affiliate link to book.
Stephanie Paul -- Executive Storyteller, Coach, Speaker, and Trainer (LinkedIn). Stephanie's website.

Resources:

Special offer: Stephanie Paul is offering a $5.00 discount off her book, The WhyGuide to Storytelling. Just visit here and use the coupon code HACK4U at checkout.

For more about the Trojan Horses for the Mind, check out Perry’s book, Transformational Security Awareness: What Neuroscientists, Storytellers, and Marketers Can Teach Us About Driving Secure Behaviors.

Amazon affiliate links to books mentioned:

Music and Sound Effects by Blue Dot Sessions & Storyblocks.

Artwork by Chris Machowski.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Next Episode

This is BS!

Ever wrestled with the fact that people often make horrible security decisions even though their employers have security awareness programs in place? It's often because we assume that being aware of something should naturally result in better behavior. Well... that's not the case. This episode takes a deep dive into the knowledge-intention-behavior gap where we are confronted with three realities of security awareness. And those realities lead us to the realization that we need to focus on behavior.

Guests for this episode are all leaders in the fields of Behavioral Science. They are, BJ Fogg, Ph.D., author of Tiny Habits: the Small Changes that Change Everything, Matt Wallaert, author of Start at the End: How to Build Products That Create Change, and Alexandra Alhadeff, co-author of Deep Thought: A Cybersecurity Story.

Guests:

BJ Fogg, Ph.D.. -- Behavior Scientist & Innovator at Stanford University. (Personal website) Author of Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything. (Amazon link)
Matt Wallaert -- Head of Behavioral Science at frog (a Capgemini company). Author of Start at the End: How to Build Products That Create Change (Amazon link)
Alexandra Alhadeff -- Behavioral Scientist & Product Manager at The Fabulous. (Personal website)

Notes & Resources:

BJ Fogg testimony to the 2006 US Federal Trade Commission about the dangers of persuasive technology.
Fogg Behavior Model
About Nudge Theory
Multiple examples of Nudging
Great catalog of Dark Patterns
Ideas42 cybersecurity-related behavioral science research.
Deep Thought: A Cybersecurity Story, by Ideas42.