The Future Of Information Ecosystems
Fellow Futurist and TCS colleague Kevin Benedict has been exploring the topic of information and the ecosystems that support it. In this wide ranging series, he looked at things like social engineering, device dependence, and behavioral science. In a world where information is weaponized, this is an important discussion. Below is a summary of the series in Kevin’s words, followed by a link to each article.
Digital technology has simplified the means of distributing both valuable information and disinformation. The average person in the US spends approximately 3 hours per day consuming information from digital devices. That totals about 1.5 months of screen time per year. Our investment of time changes and shapes us. It influences our thinking and behaviors. The question for each of us is, “Does this time investment make us better or worse as humans, parents, family members, citizens, employees, leaders, mentors and friends? Are we being influenced to become the type of person we want to be?
Our addictive dependence upon the Internet is the new revolution of our time. Today, we have tens of billions of devices connected to the internet. For every PC or handset connected to it, 5 to 10 other devices will be sold with their own internet connection. These devices are both collecting data on us, and pushing information or disinformation to us. The applications, and the messages we receive from them, are often controlled and managed by large global organizations with their own specific agendas. Often these agendas include influencing us in very purposeful ways using behavioral science, psychographic profiles, personalized messaging, understandings of our vulnerabilities, artificial intelligence and mind manipulation at scale. In this article series we pull back the curtains on these activities, identify the tactics and strategies used, and explain how they are bending our minds so we can be alert and prepared to resist them in the future.
Read more on the Future of Information, Truth and Influence here:
Originally published at http://frankdiana.net on April 30, 2021.
