The Information

Did you see the movie Sneakers?

I’m thinking about this facebook hullaballoo and how just a certain amount of information can, in theory, influence important matters.

Now the logician in me knows all about the fallacy ad populum or “if a million people jump off a bridge, are you?” Consider:

• 1     We can now hear the voices of a million people, easily. It’s called the internet.
• 2.    Size matters. From your quarter-pounder down to the number of Russian bots on Facebook and Twitter posting this and that to get you thinking one way or another.

Buyer beware you might say. Don’t believe anything you see on Facebook or Twitter you might say.

That is an option certainly but psychologist know about something called internal bias or “birds of a feather flock together” and so do the designers of the bots and their messaging and they know how to sneak “what you want to hear” in front of you.

And you my friend are as susceptible to internal bias as everyone else.

It gets worse.

But what will we do when technology can truly mask the giver of the information or simulate the authenticity of the giver of the information?

Here is what I mean:

Let us say your trusted news source is the NY times. What are you going to do when the bots simulate the NY times with the accuracy of a counterfeiter of money or art?

What if the trusted telly you watch can be counterfeited?

Don’t poopoo this idea. Technology will certainly allow for this. Certainly. Without a doubt.

So why did I lead off with the Sneakers query?

The plot of Sneakers revolves around a program (a box in the movie) that is capable of breaking the encryption of nearly every computer system.

Currently we are substituting encryption for biased messaging (based on data collected about you) and the amount of messaging. When you hear information that already agrees with your worldview, even if that information is factually incorrect (in the age of alternative facts) you act and behave a certain way. And vote a certain way.

Two scenes from the movie are important and prescient:

And more importantly: