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sapinker's profile
Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker
Verified account
@sapinker

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Steven PinkerVerified account

@sapinker

Cognitive scientist at Harvard.

Boston, MA
pinker.wjh.harvard.edu
Joined January 2010

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    Steven Pinker‏Verified account @sapinker Feb 15

    Fake News and Bots are the moral panic of the day (& one of my most FAQs), but like many media-marinated panics, statistically trifling.https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/13/upshot/fake-news-and-bots-may-be-worrisome-but-their-political-power-is-overblown.html …

    7:27 AM - 15 Feb 2018
    • 81 Retweets
    • 154 Likes
    • chris macmaster oak231 FFx Jamison Pridgen Jeffrey Guterman ~C4Chaos Matthew Bayes Sarang Mane Mathieu Beaufils
    22 replies 81 retweets 154 likes
      1. Nicholas Kadar‏ @N_kadar Feb 15
        Replying to @sapinker

        Fake news is not trifling. It's a regular occurrence calculated to influence public opinion & has caused dismissal of several journalists. Sheryl Atkinson gave a TED talk on genesis of term. Not surprisingly started by big-time HRC donor. Listen to it:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMX4NmCJGm0 …

        0 replies 1 retweet 4 likes
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      1. Gabriel Mathy‏ @gabriel_mathy Feb 15
        Replying to @sapinker

        This is definitely right. Now do post-modern college students.

        0 replies 0 retweets 3 likes
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      1. Gideon Mann‏ @gideonmann Feb 15
        Replying to @sapinker

        You title makes a claim ("their power is overblown") not supported by your article. Your article says more work is needed not that the effect is null. Moreover, in a political election decided by a few thousand votes, the adverting effect you promote could have been decisive.

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      1. Hallowestly  🎃‏ @westlypenny Feb 15
        Replying to @sapinker

        You seem to define "fake news" as the dubious websites/memes created by some guy in Kazakhstan or wherever. You're right about its irrelevance -- but that's not the fake news that's dangerous. It's the MAINSTREAM media being dishonest/careless that's the real concern.

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      1. Kimberly‏ @KimVanderkelen Feb 15
        Replying to @sapinker

        http://thefederalist.com/2018/02/15/media-stopped-reporting-russia-collusion-story-helped-create/ …

        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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      1. la tafiole sucree‏ @latafiolesucree Feb 15
        Replying to @sapinker

        WTF? Elections are often very close. Just changing a few thousand minds can have huge political consequences.

        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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      1. Ste (IQ 3 ± 5) Britain's Biggest Cult‏ @StePhilbin Feb 15
        Replying to @sapinker

        Much is made of Fake News but, from what I've seen, the people who screech the loudest about it, do the least to inform people about how to spot it. I wonder why that could be. 🤔

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      1. Navaid Abidi‏ @AbidiNavaid Feb 20
        Replying to @sapinker

        but what happens to truth fast forward 10 yrs when bots become more intelligent, indistinguishable from humans, and the cost of social/emotional manipulation goes to zero

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. Sam Graybeal‏ @samgraybeal Feb 16
        Replying to @sapinker

        It's the sport of "AlterNet Realities". A side effect of an information age. Catfishing and Nigerian scambaiting are other examples of this. Most recent is the Sam Hyde 4chan prank.

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. Pete Smillie‏ @mequantum Feb 15
        Replying to @sapinker

        Trump's precedency...just a trifling "Black Swan" event. 70k votes, in 3 counties is no fkg marinade.

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. Javier Mares Romero‏ @JavierMares Feb 15
        Replying to @sapinker

        Encouraging! However, when does propaganda begin to have significant effects? Eg. Russian propaganda in Russia. Thank you.

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. Chris Fetterly‏ @ChrisFetterly Feb 15
        Replying to @sapinker

        Statically trifling until you get one influential deepfake of a political party member circulated by media.

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. Willis Warren‏ @warisill Feb 15
        Replying to @sapinker

        Yeah, that's what I thought until a guy at work started telling me the Rothschilds run the world

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. John Bice‏ @JohnBice Feb 15
        Replying to @sapinker

        It will only get worse:https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/the-terrifying-future-of-fake-news …

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