011 Altay Shrugged with Sacha Altay

Sacha Altay is a cognitive scientist and researcher at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. His research is focused on misinformation and (mis)trust. In this not-to-be-missed conversation, Sacha and KMO discuss: 03:20 – The difference between dis- and misinformation 06:40 – The varying levels of trust in science and media 07:40 – Bias, introspection, and brainwashing (with sporadic references to US elections) 11:35 – The era of minimal effects, confirmation bias, and reputation management 17:30 – AI detecting misinformation 18:45 – Watching “Behind the Curve” and KMO’s unexpected connection with a "flat earth"-believing street performer 21:40 – Examples of deprecating language to describe people and their beliefs 22:25 – Flat Earth Theory and its attractiveness 24:30 – Joe Rogan's dalliance with "horse medicine" (according to CNN, that is); his mainstream media haters 28:45 – Whether people should trust the mainstream new media 30:40 – Having a strong opinion on media personas you don’t follow 35:00 – Whether trust is tribal: whether we form derivative opinions 36:50 – Ayn Rand's hatred for Immanuel Kant and trusting one's network 40:10 – Misconceptions about misinformation 44:10 – Skeptics, news avoiders, and egocentric discounting (valuing one's own beliefs too much) 47:10 – KMO's media diet 51:00 – Reasons for the lack of studies on television news 51:55 – Limitations for use of ML/AI in media studies 54:00 – Needing more access 54:35 – Reprise: the difference between dis- and misinformation 55:10 – Misleading with truthful statements leading to false conclusions 56:20 – Filter bubbles created by social media algorithms and being exposed to diverging opinions 60:00 – Sacha’s concluding statement about valuing each other's opinions Links: Sacha: @Sacha_Altay | sites.google.com/view/sacha-altay/ | en.padverb.com/sacha.altay KMO: @Kayemmo | en.padverb.com/kmo The Padverb Telegram Channel: t.me/padverbpodcast