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saved by3 people, first bysusan carter morgan on 2008-04-27, last bySharon Scinicariello on 2008-04-28

  • subjects used them as an opportunity to reinforce their own beliefs.


  • So what's the big deal about now? How does the addition of Cumul.us or collateral misinformation really change things?



    The answer, of course, is volume: millions of YouTube speeches, millions of Web pages -- including the 4,440 hits that still come up today when you type "Smoking does NOT cause cancer" into Google.



    "We're reading in niches," says Manjoo, the author of "True Enough," who discusses the smoking study in his book. "Since people have more choice, they can choose to read the things that reflect what they already believe."

  • "Since people have more choice, they can choose to read the things that reflect what they already believe.
  • If one quack repeats the same piece of information to you five times, it's nearly as effective as hearing the sound bite from five different reputable sources.
  • truth can be elusive, but the fight for it can be rewarding.
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