Links #6
A new Sins of a Solar Spymaster article on deception and bluffing.
Another article on BigPharma companies using deception that was mentioned in this set of links. That article is specifically how the company created a bogus scientific journal. It is an example of agnotology.
An article on propaganda, the environmental movement, and the use of words to shape others’ minds.
A great article on how to cheat at everything from The Economist’s ‘More Intelligent Life’. Quote:
“I could sell shit at an anti-scat party,” he says, “you have to figure out someone’s wants and needs and convince them what you have will fill their emotional void.” A con man is essentially a salesman–a remarkably good one–who excels at making people feel special and understood. A con man validates the victim’s desire to believe he has an edge on other people.
It requires avid study of psychology and body language. It’s an amazing paradox–a con man has incredible emotional insight, but without the burden of compassion. He must take an intense interest in other people, complete strangers, and work to understand them, yet remain detached and uninvested. That the plan is to cheat these people and ultimately confirm many of their fears cannot be of concern.
Mr Lovell draws people in by mirroring their body language. He breaks their defences by entering their physical space.
This article on the interrelation between public works and deception reminds me of Caro’s “The Power Broker,” which had the same themes. Robert Moses would underestimate the cost of a major public work, which suckered in politicians as a major public work for cheap was a dream come true for them. Then once he’d run out of money, he’d go ask for more, as the politicians wouldn’t want their reputations tarnished by a failed project. Quote from article:
But a professor at Oxford University in England has done a compelling series of studies trying to get at why big public-works projects such as bridges, tunnels and light-rail systems almost always turn out to be far more costly than estimated.
“It cannot be explained by error,” sums up one of his papers, matter-of-factly. “It is best explained by strategic misrepresentation — that is, lying.”
The use of donkeys as a platform for terrorist tactics.
This post on lying within robots that came up in one of my feeds is from 2008, and the accompanying study is from 2007, but I thought it was interesting. Deception emerged from interactions between artificial intelligence.
An article on “digital deception.” Quote:
Woodworth began his exploration by looking at how to detect deception in face-to-face environments. But he soon recognized the invasion of information and communication technologies into nearly all aspects of our lives was an opportunity to study how technology affects “digital deception” – defined as any type of technologically mediated message transmitted to create a false belief in the receiver of the message.
“Given the prevalence of both deception and communication technology in our personal and professional lives, an important set of concerns have emerged about how technology affects digital deception,” says Woodworth. He points out a growing number of individuals are falling prey to deceptive practices and information received through computer mediated contexts such as the Internet.
More links to follow, sometime today. I’ll tack them onto the end of this post.
