Digital Humanities: Week 8 Reflection

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 "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."

— Joseph Goebbels

The other day in class, the class got into a very active discussion about misinformation, which reminded me of a debate round I had at a tournament. The resolution stated, “When in conflict, censorship should be preferred over misinformation.” I was on the affirmative side, and when my coach saw that I chose the resolution, he had to slap his own head, disappointed in me for choosing a resolution that was heavily negation-grounded. However, with more research and conversation, I realized that there is such widespread misinformation that there is room to make this argument, which by itself seems crazy. This reflects the modern-day spread of information.

We are in an age where we are surrounded by information, and being informed has a significant effect on the human brain. It makes us identify patterns and create our own narratives. We also have mediums to share our narratives, so we can inform others, and the cycle continues. We recognize those who have similar narratives and create bubbles. I think that is what Denzel Washington meant when he said, "If you don’t engage, you are uninformed; if you do, you are misinformed," because there is so much information out there that it ends up polarizing us.

So in this state, who can we trust to tell the truth? Journalists? Reporters? TV networks? Newspapers? When I was a kid in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, until recent years, there was one central broadcasting corporation, and that was controlled by the government. Private networks and companies reported to and got approval from the central national agency. There was one line of information. Then social media came along, and with it came the freedom of expression  and the search for what is actually true. I’m not saying having a monopolized source of information was great; it was horrible. But things got more complicated as more voices were heard. Here in the USA, the freedom of the press is actually mind-boggling to those who grew up in the same environment I was raised in. The fact that there are "right-leaning" and "left-leaning" agencies is fascinating.

This also raises the question: Who is really looking for the truth? I assume all are. But are we looking for the truth through our own presuppositions and biases, or are we deconstructing and seeing things as they come? Is that even possible?

In this new era of artificial intelligence and machine learning, how will our polarization stand? We live in an age where people are slowly starting to trust AI. I see lots of people using it day by day. Is there any way to rid AI of bias? Can it be used as an agent of truth, or will it further our polarization? If AI trains based on our own information and the frequency of our information, would it just be another game of who screams louder? And what is the way out of this digital trap of being so connected like never before, but so divided like never before?

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