Today, the prevalence of social media, the rise of algorithms, filter bubbles,
“bots”, and international hacking efforts have brought the issue

IND101: CORNERSTONE A: FOUNDATIONS JAN2022
30080616 [8wk]
Engage
Today, the prevalence of social media, the rise of algorithms, filter bubbles,
“bots”, and international hacking efforts have brought the issue of “fake
news” to the forefront of our national and international consciousness. As
you read in the webtext this week, the spread of misinformation is not an
entirely new problem and it does not have one simple solution. However,
there are changes all information consumers can make to how they engage
with stories, facts, and data that can lead us from a “post-truth” world to a
“pro-truth” world.
Begin by reading chapter 4 of the webtext and viewing all of Professor Alex
Edmans’ TED Talk “What to Trust in a ‘Post-Truth’ World”, below.
Alex Edmans
What to trust in a “post-truth” world
Edmans, Al. (2018). What to trust in a “post-truth” world
(Links to an external site.)
. TedTalk. [Video: 17:40 minutes]. Transcripts
Download Transcripts
.
Discussion Instructions
Initial post: By Thursday of Module 4, create an initial post that responds to
each of the prompts below:
• Edmans argues that confirmation bias causes us to believe
information that confirms our point of view, which sometimes leads to
accepting and sharing information that is fake, misleading, or
misrepresentative.
• Think of an example of this from your own life. How did confirmation
bias shape your understanding of an issue?
• How do you think we can move beyond confirmation bias to make
sure what we’re accepting and sharing is true?