The term illuminati has been used since the late 15th century, and applied to various groups since then. It’s often discussed by conspiracy theorists, and is heavily referenced in pop-culture.
Lettuce./Flickr
We analysed eight years of Reddit posts from conspiracy theorists. Our findings have helped debunk some common myths about this somewhat alienated group of people.
Echo chambers are resistant to voices from outside.
Beth Kuchera/Shutterstock
Rush Limbaugh is said to have presented the world as a simple binary – as a struggle only between good and evil. That worked, as a philosopher explains, because many people live in echo chambers.
I’m safe, but you should be more careful online.
Rapeepat Pornsipak/Shutterstock.com
People know about Facebook’s problems, but assume they are largely immune – even while they imagine that everyone else is very susceptible to influence.
New research shows that more and more of our public conversation is unfolding within a dwindling coterie of sites that are controlled by a small few, largely unregulated and geared primarily to profit rather than public interest.
Unsplash
New research into the economics of attention online casts doubt on the net’s role in fostering public debate, and raises concerns about the future of democracy.
Message from the Unseen World, an installation of a Turing-inspired algorithm reciting a poem.
by Nick Drake.
Roger Marks/Flickr
Today’s communications platforms and the algorithms that power them have led to a radical change in how public discourse is conducted and public opinion formed.
Gordon Hull, University of North Carolina – Charlotte
A scholar asks whether democracy itself is at risk in a world where social media is creating deeply polarized groups of individuals who tend to believe everything they hear.
Social media allow us to feel closer to tragedies on the other side of the world.
Nigel Roddis/EPA/AAP
We know negative news has an impact on our mental health, especially if we are constantly being exposed to it. Twitter is trying to help young people cope with the stress, which is a good start.
Don’t panic: An international survey finds concerns about fake news are overblown.
studiostoks/shutterstock.com
Concerns over filter bubbles and fake news are often based on anecdotal evidence. There is relatively little systematic research on the topic; a new survey finds widespread fears are unwarranted.
Mohammad Ghassemi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Tuka Al Hanai, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Bringing back the diminished tradition of eating lunch together may be the solution.
Sharing election hashtags: Dots are Twitter accounts; lines show retweeting; larger dots are retweeted more. Red dots are likely bots; blue ones are likely humans.
Clayton Davis
If people can be conned into jeopardizing our children’s lives, as they do when they opt out of immunizations, could they also be conned out of democracy?