EPISODE 33: BUILDING AN UNREALITY
Episode 33: Building An Unreality | 7 July 2026
Stephen and Trent contemplate the spread of “unrealities” fueled by algorithmically charged mis- and disinformation. The duo debates underlying political, economic, social, and cultural factors, including:
“Alternative facts,” personal mythmaking, and consequent threats to social cohesion;
Mis- and disinformation from sociological, philosophical, and communications perspectives;
How flawed trust hierarchies and lazy heuristics accelerate the death of expertise;
Murc’s Law, Wilhoit’s Law, and the distortion of political agency;
Hypercapitalism as a primary driver of the modern information crisis;
Offloading cognitive responsibility to make a “wicked” world more digestible;
Self-contradictory beliefs and the contagion of conspiracy;
“Flooding the zone” with a “firehose of falsehood”;
Identity formation, being “bamboozled,” and the risk of fracturing one’s ego;
“Black Hole” Communities of Practice and the challenge of rescuing someone who has slipped beyond the event horizon;
Comparing knowledge-generating institutions with their bizarro disinformation simulacra;
Seeking logical proof rather than succumbing to emotional satisfaction;
Navigating the tension between subjective cultural beliefs and objective scientific inquiry;
Asimov and Sagan’s prescient worries about the trajectory of socioculture and technology;
How online influencers, political pundits, and corporate media organizations manufacture consent on behalf of right-wing reactionaries;
Asymmetrical polarization and its ratcheting effect on the Overton Window;
Differentiating “good faith” from “bad faith” argumentation; and
The need for reliable external referees to help the public parse our chaotic global information landscape.
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