Manufacturing Truth in the Modern World

False information proliferates in the modern world. Words are used to confuse, mislead and deceive. Images are manipulated to shift their meaning. Statistics are misused to lie in support of agendas and causes. Developments in Artificial Intelligence creates new challenges and opportunities. From propaganda to click-bait, from satire to conspiracy theory, from pseudoscience to partisan reporting, from stories describing events that actually never happened to unintentional errors of fact, false information is everywhere. The ubiquity of social media has radically redrawn the manner in which information is shared, but false information is not a product of the age of the Internet; it is something that has run through modern history. Using a series of case studies, this module will examine the history of misinformation, or ‘mistakes’; disinformation, or ‘lies’ and ‘hoaxes’, which are false and spread deliberately to deceive; and malinformation, or ‘gossip’, which may perhaps be correct but is used to harm. In some case studies, all three categories are interwoven in the story. Attempting to understand the growing impact of Artificial Intelligence will play a central role across the module. Ultimately, this is a module about the primacy of analyzing evidence: it seeks to develop an understanding of how to assess evidence in all its aspects and how to use it. It is further concerned with critical thinking, as an essential tool for every historian and for every citizen in the modern world.