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You Can Handle the Post-Truth

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You Can Handle the Post-Truth

A Pocket Guide to the Surreal Internet

Aaron Z. Lewis,

5 min read
3 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

A tech professional reports on the state of internet surreality and its potential future. 

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Background
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

Understanding internet-related phenomenons including incels or influencers can be challenging. Online culture is a complex and evolving ecosystem, and recent developments – including sophisticated computer-generated graphics as well as advances in artificial intelligence and virtual reality – make distinguishing between reality and fiction increasingly difficult. This is more than an abstract problem, as the internet drives the radicalization and conspiracies that can fuel real-life chaos and violence. Thankfully, there are possible solutions. This guide will walk you through what you need to know. 

Summary

Internet memes and influencers are ringing in the age of “post-truth” as they become powerful forces of change in society.

The internet can be a platform of knowledge and connection, but it can also be a place for misinformation and division. Online interactions are especially susceptible to manipulation because they’re optimized for advertising: They reach a vast audience – targeted individually – and rely on algorithms that actors can discover and exploit.

Fake or virtual online actors are influencing real-life actions.

Some developments stem from sophisticated corporate marketing tactics, such as computer-generated influencers developed by ad firms that operate like human users. In...

About the Author

Aaron Z. Lewis is a writer and a Yale graduate who has worked as a digital product designer for Uber and both Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and the ride-sharing service Uber. 

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