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RE: Work in progress (paper three of the PhD)
Well, that's the problem. People are looking for the reasons to reject vaccination. So there is the "ecological niche" for false info. And currently, there is no mechanism to censor the sources of false news.
And what scares me is the fact that the truth is not important as belief.
It means that we can be well informed with the false news and make terrible but still very democratic and "free will" decisions
Yeah I think that's very likely the case, I've a survey that I'm going to write up after this that's looking like it might support something along those lines. That said it does work both ways, those that want to be reassured about the vaccination also look for the information that they want to see. This is why I find these results fairly encouraging, especially when it comes to the HPV vaccine. With so many people searching for information you'd expect all the anti-vaccination websites to have more of an effect, but with searching like this it's likely only those that wouldn't vaccinate in the first place that are paying them much attention.
Trusted and trustworthiness of sources also play a big part here. That's the way to avoid fake news. Although, of course all scepticism goes out the window when information back up your pre existing beliefs. What an interesting century this is going to be!
For the free will aspect I have very little comfort to give there. It's probably best not to think about it too much.
I noticed something interesting while fighting against creationists. There are the same arguments, over and over again, even after being debunked 1000 times (like Nebraska man). Do we know what is the "silver bullet" that can kill false ideas?
Yes, making sure you can replace the myth with a fact.
Just debunking a misconception is never enough, something needs to be put in the hole where the myth once was. I swear I could have done more good by studying the causes of autism rather that the work I do now!
Also the usual be nice and try and act like you've not heard the same shit 1000 times before. It's not easy, I'm still not very good at it and always end up going back to Phil Plait’s lecture don't be a dick to remind me self why I can't just lose my shit.
It does work it just might be a little bit down the line at a point where you're not there to see it.