Comment by loudmax
1 year ago
I think placing trust in technology is misguided. Bad actors will always figure out a way to abuse the machines.
What we can do is place trust in particular institutions, and use technology to verify authenticity. Not verify that what the institution is saying is true, but verify that they really are standing by this claim.
This is challenging because no institution is going to be 100% trustworthy all of the time in perpetuity. But you can make reasonable assessments about which institutions appear more credible. Then it's a matter of policing your own biases.
Sure, but I don't see how that could be implemented in the world in a way other than how I outlined, considering that photos/videos can be created by anyone. There is no central media institution that can control all sharing of content.
It would seem to me that the institution to place your trust in would be the one that implements and verifies the coding system I discussed.
When a news organization hires a journalist to file a report, they put their reputation on the line in the hands of the journalist.
As a consumer of news, you put your trust in the institution to have a reasonable vetting process, and also a process to retract a story if it's later shown to be false.
None of this is completely foolproof. It relies on institutions taking a long term view, and people working out which individuals and institutions are worthy of their trust. This isn't like the the blockchain where you have mathematical proof of veracity that's as strong as your encryption algorithm. I don't see how that level of proof is achievable in the real world.
But that still doesn't factor in social media at all, which is ultimately where the majority of people are getting their information. I just don't see what institution you're relying on in the case of real people sharing videos that may or may not be fake.