Building a Healthy Cognitive Immune System
Building a Healthy Cognitive Immune System
Evolutionary biologists observe that complex biological and ecological systems are under constant attack from parasites-invaders on the lookout for weaknesses in the system to use as entry points to grow and propagate, in the process undermining the healthy functioning of the host. Under static conditions, these systems have established mechanisms for warding off such attackers. But under conditions of change, these mechanisms are no longer effective, allowing parasites to thrive and weaken the host.
The metaphor is particularly apt in describing the state of our body politic today. Dramatic changes in our media and information technology landscapes are weakening our individual and collective cognitive immune systems, opening us up to disinformation attacks and many new forms of manipulation. And the defenses we've built over decades is ill suited to ward off these new attackers, which include bots, trolls, and much more.
The cognition of individuals and of the larger body politic has always been a target for manipulation. Many are attempting to persuade others in many different directions, and in a democratic society we tolerate and even invite many voices. In today's highly networked world, however, attacks against democracy have the potential to be more devastating than ever before. For better and worse, networked communications tools and technologies have altered existing power dynamics by re-defining who has the power of voice, the power to shape our dominant narratives, and the power to influence our cognition.
An individual with a $500 laptop, a $30 per month Internet service plan, and a You Tube account has a greater potential audience than a 1990s television station with a newsroom, cameras, a staff, transmitting equipment, and an FCC license, all of which totaled millions of dollars. Social media platforms have unprecedented insight into the desires, fears,and behaviors of billions of their users. And yet, we still are at the early stages of this transformation, with old structures, regulatory systems, and cultural norms straining to respond to the rapid changes in our information environment.
What is Cognitive Immunity?
This is a precarious time in which democracy—our widely shared set of values for responding to social, environmental, and economic challenges—is being undermined by groups that excel in the creation and distribution of infectious social-media-ready viruses. The Attack Vectors they employ (described in detail on the other side of this map) are designed to exploit network dynamics as well as one or more of the dozens of Cognitive Biases in humans that psychologists and behavioral scientists have identified and cataloged over the years. While cognitive biases may convey certain benefits, such as small group solidarity, they can also compromise our ability to think rationally or judge fairly, making us susceptible to misinformation that raises prejudices, fears, and beliefs that work against flourishing within a functioning democracy.
For democracy to thrive we must develop Immunity Activators for healthy cognition. These boosters are tools, laws, regulations, cultural norms, and skills that work in combination to form a socio-technical infrastructure that protects our networked society against malicious or unwanted intrusions that threaten the body politic.
Building a cognitive immune system will require a systemic view of our networked society. We must understand the forces-technological, cultural, economic-on the horizon that could erode, or help sustain, democracy.