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Deepfakes, Fake Barns, and Problems of Safe Belief

Deepfakes, Fake Barns, and Problems of Safe Belief

Posted on 17 May 2021 by

Every year, Queen Elizabeth II speaks to the UK in her annual Christmas Address. In her 2020 Address, the Queen not only spoke highly of NHS nurses, doctors, and other […]

Online illusions of understanding

Online illusions of understanding

Posted on 19 October 2020 by

An online intellectual paradise? The internet and social media provide us with plenty of opportunities to educate ourselves, to learn new things, and to deepen our understanding. A world of […]

Responsibilities of the Media: Are Journalists Responsible for Publishing the Truth?

Responsibilities of the Media: Are Journalists Responsible for Publishing the Truth?

Posted on 5 October 2020 by

In 2016, a Daily Mail journalist who broke the scandalous story that David Cameron had placed his private parts in the mouth of a dead pig (aka ‘Piggate’), made the […]

Following the science: trust, experts, and COVID-19

Following the science: trust, experts, and COVID-19

Posted on 20 April 2020 by

Students of recent social epistemology could be forgiven for thinking that the world’s social and political problems begin and end with the threat of “fake news”. The thought is that […]

Skepticism, Tribalism, and Humble Persistence

Skepticism, Tribalism, and Humble Persistence

Posted on 6 April 2020 by

With many weighty contemporary issues, it is increasingly difficult to know what exactly to believe. This includes issues related to or at the intersection of politics, morality, religion, medicine, and […]

Political Debate in the Digital Age

Political Debate in the Digital Age

Posted on 10 February 2020 by

In an ideal democratic world, all citizens are invited to debate political necessities and possibilities to the best of their knowledge and to forge their country’s future in this way. […]

Do we have the will to change what we believe?

Do we have the will to change what we believe?

Posted on 12 August 2019 by

A tweet made it to the United States’ front page of Reddit.com on July 21st 2019 from the subreddit, r/GetMotivated. The tweet, originally from @michaelmiraflor, read, “Unfollow models and influencers. […]

Bullshit You Can Believe In

Bullshit You Can Believe In

Posted on 5 November 2018 by

One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit. So begins Harry Frankfurt’s rightly celebrated essay On Bullshit, raising the important questions of […]

Am I in an echo chamber?

Am I in an echo chamber?

Posted on 2 July 2018 by

Spend enough time tracking the liberal and conservative media worlds, and you’ll notice a certain symmetry in their accusations. Each side thinks that the other is living in an echo […]

Ruminating on Fake News, Online Education, and Intellectual Humility

Ruminating on Fake News, Online Education, and Intellectual Humility

Posted on 18 June 2018 by

From 2015 until last month (May, 2018), I was involved with a project at the University of Edinburgh, which aimed to produce a massive open online course (or MOOC) on […]

Can Exposure to “Fake News” Damage Our Intellectual Character?

Can Exposure to “Fake News” Damage Our Intellectual Character?

Posted on 15 January 2018 by

There is no denying the current widespread interest in the phenomenon of “fake news”. Reflection on the quality of recent political debates has fuelled concerns about the use of inaccurate […]

The Vices of Truthlessness

The Vices of Truthlessness

Posted on 28 August 2017 by

From ‘post-truth’, to ‘fake news’, to ‘alternative facts’, truthlessness is everywhere at the moment. These phenomena present us with a huge array of questions. How do we separate fact from […]