January 23
GUEST: Emma Briant, an academic at Bard College who specializes in propaganda and the workings of Cambridge Analytica, talks about her research in identifying the secret techniques being used to influence public opinion.Cambridge Analytica, how I peered inside the propaganda machine
Our world is now full of tiny data bits, being collected silently by our ever present electronic devices. Using AI (artificial intelligence) this data is reorganized into a whole for each person on earth, and then used to predict and to influence their behavior.
In effect, each of us is put into a predefined category of people, like the results of a Myers Briggs personality assessment. From there, test are run to determine how best to control the things we do or believe in. The "dark triad" category represents the most vulnerable type of people to work with, and Cambridge Analytical limited their efforts in the 2016 presidential race to this group.
In psychology, the dark triad refers to the personality traits of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. They are called "dark" because of their malevolent qualities.This does sounds like your typical Trump voter, motivated by fear, greed and malice for all. Send them a hate message about Blacks or immigrants, and they will go running off to the polls to choose their favorite hater in chief. In fact, Trump is the most recognizable manifestation of the dark triad, from his self absorption to his endless preoccupation with crazy conspiracy theories. And for sheer malevolence? Perhaps the dark triad should be renamed the Trump triad.
But this takes us away from the real problem with these techniques. Potentially, this technology can know us better than we know ourselves, and in so doing can pull our strings without us even realizing how we are being manipulated. That is the brave new world that we must learn to understand and to resist.
