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DALL·E 2023-08-20 23.34.15 – A modernist painting of a fish experiencing misinformation.

How to Break a Fish

In the wild west of the Internet, misinformation creeps around every corner.

Words: Laicie Heeley
Pictures: DALL-E
Date:

It’s one of our biggest problems in 2023, and it can feel distinctly human. But it’s not. All sorts of animals deal with all sorts of misinformation every day, including some of our oldest ancestors — like the humble fish.

This week on Things That Go Boom, we exit the human world entirely to see what we can learn.

Special thanks this week to Christina Stella for pinch-hitting for our engineer, Robin Wise!

Guests:

Ashkaan Fahimipour, Florida Atlantic University; Jimmy Liao, The University of Florida

Additional Reading:

Wild Animals Suppress the Spread of Socially Transmitted Misinformation, Ashkaan K. Fahimipour, Michael A. Gil, Maria Rosa Celis, and Andrew M. Hein, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Navigating Turbulent Waters, Jimmy Liao, This I Believe

Author bio

Laicie Heeley

Editor in Chief

Laicie Heeley is the founding CEO of Inkstick Media, where she serves as Editor in Chief of the foreign policy magazine Inkstick and Executive Producer and Host of the PRX- and Inkstick-produced podcast, Things That Go Boom. Heeley’s reporting has appeared on public radio stations across America and the BBC, where she’s explored global security issues including domestic terrorism, disinformation, nuclear weapons, and climate change. Prior to launching Inkstick, Heeley was a Fellow with the Stimson Center’s Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense program and Policy Director at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. Her publications include work on sanctions, diplomacy, and nuclear arms control and nonproliferation, along with the first full accounting of US counterterrorism spending after 9/11.

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