The Future of Truth in the Post-Truth Era

By Howard Fencl/Hennes Communications

Here’s a frightening quote from a founder of Wired magazine – perhaps the most frightening quote about the future of truth I’ve yet encountered:

“Truth is no longer dictated by authorities, but is networked by peers.”

The rise of “fake news” and the proliferation of misinformation – particularly in the social media realm – gets its oxygen from all of us. Not because we come down on one side of a controversial issue or another. We stoke post-truth fires simply because it’s human nature to do so.

The phenomenon is called “confirmation bias,” the tendency of people to seek out information and points of view they agree with, facts be damned. Most ominous is what researchers call “the backfire effect” – that is, when people who have taken a position are faced with facts that run counter to their beliefs, they respond by digging in even harder on their original position. Facts intended to correct have the opposite effect.

Confirmation bias is nothing new. We’ve talked about the best approaches you can take to confront misinformation head-on here in the Hennes Communication newsletter and in our blog posts.

But where is it all going? What is the future of truth online? The Pew Internet Research Center rounded up an august group of business leaders, scholars, IT professionals, journalists and futurists and posed the question. The aggregate results may give you hope – and heartburn.

READ the Pew Internet Research Center study, “The Future of Truth and Misinformation Online.”

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