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| Moon Herald Traveller offices (center) |
It took some time but the world has gradually come to awareness that the Internet is – among other things - a shroud of disinformation. For some it really hits home -- perhaps no one has experienced it at first hand as has former President Barack Obama.
Unfortunately, the spotlight dimmed quickly after his recent speech on Technology and Democracy at Stanford University. There, he outlined the problem as he saw it. His analysis of the problem was thorough, tho his suggestions for solutions mostly stumbled.
“I might never have been elected president if it hadn’t been for websites like, and I’m dating myself, MySpace, MeetUp and Facebook that allowed an army of young volunteers to organize, raise money, spread our message,” he said. “That’s what elected me.”
That grassroots movement, and the apparent transformation of the Arab Spring, cheered many. But social media’s “unintended consequences” later came to the fore.
Today “we see that our new information ecosystem is turbocharging some of humanity’s worst impulses,” Obama said.
And, yes, he knows whereof he speaks because he saw it close by.
Obama found himself on the victim side of one of the biggest Internet meme attacks of all time. It evolved in form as part of a storm that helped drive Donald Trump to greater prominence. Obama was born in Nigeria! So, his presidency is illegal. Prove to me I’m wrong! So it goes as spun by Trump and followers. Trump as president undid much of what Obama had accomplished.
Obama has directly experienced deepfake synthetic media that swaps one person’s face with another’s. He noted this as a first step in greater use of artificial intelligence (AI) in disinformation’s virulent spread.
“I’ve already seen demonstrations of deepfake technology that show what looks like me on a screen saying stuff I did not say,” he said, adding, “It’s a strange experience, people.”
Obama reminds that ‘that’s your opinion man’ doesn’t work at the irrational extreme. Degrees of truth matter, he suggests at Stanford.
"None of us are perfectly objective. What we consider unshakeable truth today may prove to be totally wrong tomorrow. But that doesn’t mean some things aren’t truer than others or that we can’t draw lines between opinions, facts, honest mistakes, intentional deceptions."
His good will, I feel is immense. And he seeks out common sense - and common ground. Relativism has gained tremendous traction – to the point where what anyone thinks doesn’t matter if they can be drowned out with noise. He is very aware of that. - Jack Vaughan
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1 comment:
Tribes formed around newspapers, movies, radio, broadcast tv, cable tv…all – a concern in their time. Broadcast TV elected Kennedy, and slowed down American imperial war drive. So there was a power.
I don’t remember the details fully but I was talking to a young man and can see his world view and how his life were very significantly changed by Internet meme swarms.
He was courteous – I in turn as well. And we talked around the obvious near-tribal differences between our views. But Obama did come up. Then I thought I’d jolt him.
“I was born in the same hospital as Obama,” I said, which is true.\
“In Nigeria?” he asked, thinking I joked but also incredulous.
I’ve met a True Believer I thought. And had to look him in the eye. Since then, met others. - Jack Vaughan
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