{"id":7696,"date":"2020-02-18T08:01:33","date_gmt":"2020-02-18T13:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/?p=7696"},"modified":"2020-02-11T14:45:26","modified_gmt":"2020-02-11T19:45:26","slug":"7696-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/7696-2\/","title":{"rendered":"February 23, 2020–Listen Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dave Dodson, Houston, TX<\/b><\/p>\n

Warm-up Question<\/b><\/p>\n

Do you ever engage in discussions or debates on social media? Do you think that social media is useful to debate important topics?<\/p>\n

Listen Up<\/b><\/p>\n

In the last couple of months, it seems like there has been even more political news in front of us than usual.\u00a0 <\/span>A presidential impeachment, Brexit in Europe, a cabinet shakeup in Russia \u2013 all of these events stacking on top of one another.\u00a0 <\/span>Thanks to social media, we see much of these events as they happen.\u00a0 <\/span>However, as technology improves, brand new problems are cropping up which we have to anticipate and deal with.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Boston University professor, Danielle Citron, is tackling one of these problems: the rise of \u201cdeepfake\u201d video clips.\u00a0 <\/span>Deepfake fraudsters will soon be able to create phony video clips using cutting edge audio and video technology to make it appear as if a leader or public figure said or did something horrifying, when in reality, the whole video is simply computer-generated imagery.\u00a0 <\/span>These videos will be posted onto social media, and then be shared again and again by angry individuals who think the video is real.<\/p>\n

To combat this, Citron has developed an Eight-Point Plan to combat the spread of deepfakes.\u00a0 <\/span>She is confident that we will be able to use technology to detect deepfakes, which can then be targeted and taken down by social media platforms.\u00a0 <\/span>But will this be enough?<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, human nature might not make it this easy.\u00a0 <\/span>Human beings are hampered by a psychological tendency called \u201cconfirmation bias\u201d.\u00a0 <\/span>To put it simply, we tend to dismiss information or sources which challenge our existing ideas.\u00a0 <\/span>At the same time, we automatically believe anything that helps confirm what we already believe.\u00a0 <\/span>We\u2019re not very good at listening with an open mind.\u00a0 <\/span>Instead, we often seem to just want to be proven right.<\/p>\n

Discussion Questions<\/b><\/p>\n