A Brief Observation
I was in my local LCBO yesterday buying a couple of craft beers when, waiting in line, I overheard an interesting conversation. A woman, perhaps in her thirties, was talking…
Misinformation
A Disturbing Report
A disturbing report in The Star suggests there has been a serious campaign of disinformation to promote Islamophobia in Canada. The source of this campaign? The state of Israel.I have…
A Disturbing Report
A disturbing report in The Star suggests there has been a serious campaign of disinformation to promote Islamophobia in Canada. The source of this campaign? The state of Israel. I…
Truth and Reconciliation in Quesnel
Much is heard these days about Canadian history and the truth, particularly regarding the fortunes, or misfortunes, of the Indigenous population. The narrative has been biased against them, we hear,…
Caveat Emptor
Groucho Marx used to quip, “Who you gonna believe — me or your own eyes?” These days, believing what you see with your own eyes can be problematic. Consider this…
AI Has Nothing To Do With Intelligence
AI has nothing to do with intelligence but people believe the marketing hype, mostly because we have a distorted idea of what intelligence is, largely due to the media. Take…
AI Has Nothing To Do With Intelligence
AI Has Nothing To Do With Intelligence AI has nothing to do with intelligence but people believe the marketing hype, mostly because we have a distorted idea of what intelligence…
It’s All Connected
It isn’t hard to come to the realization that one of the common denominators in almost all of the existential threats currently facing humanity is our flawed natures; human folly,…
Fault Lines
I was honoured to chair the Council Of Canadian Academies panel on misinformation. Our report, Fault Lines, is available here. https://cca-reports.ca/reports/the-socioeconomic-impacts-of-health-and-science-misinformation/
On The Public Order Emergency Commission
Public testimony of the commission initiated in the wake of the February 2022 invocation of the Emergencies Act (EA) has concluded this week. Frankly, there were few surprises in the…
No, Brian Hasn’t Done Any of That!
You probably got one of these disinformation campaign cards in your mail this week. It says that Brian Saunderson and Doug “Jabba the Hutt” Ford are “putting money in your…
While The World Is Preoccupied
While the invasion of Ukraine is undoubtedly the world-shaking event that the media are reporting it as, it would be unwise as Canadians to feel blasé about our home-grown problems,…
On The Use & Abuse Of History
A typical account of history is presented in the video linked below, and here are some reflections on it, and on the general practice, or malpractice, of professional historians, and…
A Toolkit for Addressing Misinformation
Democracy functions best when the people are well educated and the group Evidence for Democracy wants exactly that: a smart public. With COVID vaccinations well underway it’s important to understand…
Conspiracy Theory Revisited
We should remember that the cult of authority, the cult of obedience, and the cult of conformity, are profoundly anti-intellectual, anti-science, anti-empirical, and anti-democratic, as well as extremely dangerous. And…
Facebook And The Unravelling Of Truth
At a time when access to accurate, well-informed and well-researched information is crucial, it is probably not surprising that there are bad actors who promote disinformation. After all, chaos, their…
Covid & the Left: An open letter
It matters not what group it was this letter was addressed to. What matters is the content. Please read: (Note that WordPress randomly gets buggy on me and will not…
Global Health System Failure – It’s Not What You Think
Who do we turn to for reliable health information? That is one of the critical questions we need to ask now. (Another is, when is it justified to suspend all…
Carrier’s Attack Ad
Former mayor Chris Carrier has a big, nasty attack ad in the Connection this weekend. He promises “facts” and attacks the current mayor’s “spin.” But any reader who has followed…
Right-wing news outlet “True North” posts misleading vaccination statistics
True North, a conservative-leaning news site, has published a highly misleading article that seems to attempt to undermine vaccine effectiveness. It’s actually kind of shocking how bad it is. Putting…