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Fake News
In olden times, people had to be wary of hucksters trying to sell snake oil. Now, thanks to modern inventions and capabilities, we have much more to be wary of. How can we know when news is "fake?" Events can be misrepresented in the news and photo shopping can create false pictures and videos. (Movie actresses have had pictures of their faces attached to photos of nude bodies. Nancy Pelosi was recently portrayed as impaired by someone who slowed down a video of her.)
Fake Products
A recent New York Times article describes how some unscrupulous people have begun copying, printing and selling books that they didn't write, collecting royalties that should have gone to the rightful authors. As a matter of fact, Amazon has a print-on-demand feature that some of these thieves have used to create fake books that they then sell on Amazon. How are they found out? Sometimes by authors who investigate when they haven't received the royalties that they expect.
And sometimes by buyers who notice the poor quality of their purchases. As the article states, this can lead to serious problems. A publisher of a medical handbook for doctors found that some of the fake copies were so poorly printed that doctors could easily misread dosages to be prescribed.
Reviews of copied books are also often fake, as are descriptions of the authors. One author's wife, having read a false biography of him, told him (tongue in cheek?) that she had learned things about him that she hadn't known.
False Advertising
Another recent New York Times article describes false information given on shopping websites. These practices are known as "dark patterns." A website may say that "Alice" has bought a certain dress and saved hundreds of dollars. But there is no "Alice." And no such sale. A Princeton University study of over 10,000 shopping sites detected "dark patterns" in more than 10% of them.
How Can We Protect Ourselves?
How are we to cope with all of this misinformation? First of all, by being aware that these things are going on. And secondly, using my complimentary Tool, we can create a new mental pathway to help us. In Step 3, wish for a new mental pathway that will perceive small irregularities that might escape our notice and that will judge whether the things we see are feasible or logical.
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