Misinformation Speaker Series: The Information Animal and the Competition for Reality
Humans have always engaged in information competition throughout history. In so doing, they adopt new technologies, try to control the flow of information, and compete to win hearts and minds by flooding the information ecosystem with their point of view, sometimes slipping into open conflict. But what if these competitions for reality follow a pattern? What can looking beyond the competition to the information ecosystem in which it occurs tell us about mitigating escalating conflict? This talk looks beyond the latest technology or disinformation to examine the wider system and how studying it might unlock solutions to problems within it.
Featured Speaker
Alicia Wanless
Director of the Information Environment Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Dr. Alicia Wanless is the director of the Information Environment Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which aims to foster evidence-based policymaking. Alicia is the author of The Information Animal: Humans, Technology and the Competition for Reality. Alicia was a technical advisor to Aspen Institute’s Commission on Information Disorder and is a founding member of its Global Cybersecurity Group. Alicia is a visiting researcher at the Institute for Digital Security and Behaviour in the University of Bath's School of Management. At King’s College London in War Studies, she completed her PhD combining strategic theory and ecology in a new approach to understanding conflict within the information environment.