Don’t be a fool. Don’t be fooled.
The late 20th century began what is sometimes called “The Age of Information” with the rapid acceleration of information technology through the internet and other digital mediums. However, the proliferation of non-peer reviewed information (blogs, opinion sites, social media, etc.) together with advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), has propelled us from an age of information to an age of disinformation. Christians must learn to recognize disinformation as harmful, insidious, and contemptible.
This is a new season, but it is not a new phenomenon. In 1932, Winston Churchill lamented the political biases and informational subjectivities of the printed word:
“The newspapers do an immense amount of thinking for the average man and woman. In fact, they supply them with such a continuous stream of standardized opinion, borne along upon an equally inexhaustible flood of news and sensation, collected from every part of the world every hour of the day, that there is neither the need nor the leisure for personal reflection. … It is an education at once universal and superficial. It produces enormous numbers of standardized citizens, all equipped with regulated opinions, prejudices, and sentiments, according to their class or party.” [Winston Churchill, “Mass Effects in Modern Life,” Strand Magazine Vol. 81, No. 485, May 1931 (474–485)]
The information we consume and believe does something to us. It forms us. Shapes us. Changes us. It has never been easier to be so convinced. Today, anyone can be an expert on anything, everyone can publicly opine about everything, and digital-social matrices constantly put in front of us that which we desperately want to believe is true.
Have you ever wondered why certain kinds of articles and advertisements make it to your social media feed while others don’t? If you are not paying for a product, you are the product. Advertising firms, service providers, and news sources are paying big money to get their messages in front of you.
All social media platforms have developed matrices of interest not only based on your demographic information and your geographic location, but also on the kinds of ads you click, the length of time you hover over certain videos, the graphics in the posts that you engage, the words you type in comment boxes, the groups you join, the pages you like, and even your search history in your web browser. They use this information to provide their vendors with highly targeted opportunities to promote their information, products, and services. And you are the target. You are the product.
For the purposes of this article, it is the information you consume that deserves our attention. In most instances, no repercussion exists for someone who posts false information online. In fact, some people make a lucrative living doing just that (by inviting sponsors to place paid ads in their highly consumed content). Their goal is not to inform you, but to change the way you think and feel — and to keep you coming back for more. Even your friends and those companies or sources you trust can repost or otherwise promote information that is simply untrue regarding politics, economics, religion, entertainment, and any other field of interest.
Biblical wisdom warns us to be cautious with information, especially that which is communicated from unrighteous motive or twists or moderates the truth:
“A fool does not delight in understanding but only wants to show off his opinions. … The one who gives an answer before he listens — this is foolishness and disgrace for him. … The mind of the discerning acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks it” (Prov. 18:2, 13, 15).
It is a depraved mind which falsifies, manipulates, or moderates information for personal agenda. And it is a depraved mind which seeks such information and believes it without investigating its truthfulness. Ancient biblical wisdom calls this “foolishness” and a “disgrace,” on both ends.
To make things worse, open-sourced AI pulls from this public information to crowdsource answers and summarize issues. When you ask a question in your web browser, AI usually pulls up a quick response based on its lightning-fast survey of information across the internet. As with all tools of human ingenuity, that which has the potential to build also has the power to destroy. “Death and life,” Proverbs 18:21 declares, “is in the power of the tongue; and those who love it eat its fruit.” The distinction between this proverbial life and death is reciprocal, in both the tongue that provides information and the heart that loves it.
But make no mistake: The problem is not AI. The problem is the wickedness of our own hearts (Jer. 17:9, Mark 7:21–23). Apart from the inner workings of the Holy Spirit, sinful people like you and me love disinformation if it justifies our preconceptions and validates our presumptions. It is the phenomenological, the incredible, and the vile that capture our interest. The lines between information and disinformation blur when the faculty of the Christian mind is arrested by the agenda of a sinful heart.
Here are seven suggestions to help navigate the Age of Disinformation:
- If the information seems hard to believe, it probably is not true.
- If the information always lines up with your preconceived notions, search for diverging opinions and try to understand their points of view.
- If a certain source (news platform, media outlet, blog, social media account, community member, etc.) regularly falsifies, manipulates, or moderates information, stop engaging that source; don’t let it poison your thoughts and don’t give it the satisfaction of being heard/read.
- If you feel passionate about a subject, find primary sources and do the work of discovery.
- Read the stories, not just the headlines.
- Pay attention to the tone of the informant and not just the contents of the information.
- If some topic negatively stirs your affections, give even more attention to items 1–6 so that what is true is not lost in what is felt.