Weaponizing Uncertainty: How Tech is Recycling Big Tobacco’s Playbook

Weaponizing Uncertainty: How Tech is Recycling Big Tobacco’s Playbook

One of the hardest parts about being human today is navigating uncertainty. When we see experts battling in public and emotions running high, it's easy to doubt what we once felt certain about. This uncertainty isn't always accidental—it's often strategically manufactured.

Historian Naomi Oreskes, author of "Merchants of Doubt," reveals how industries from tobacco to fossil fuels have deployed a calculated playbook to create uncertainty about their products' harms. These campaigns have delayed regulation and protected profits by exploiting how we process information.

In this episode, Oreskes breaks down that playbook page-by-page while offering practical ways to build resistance against them. As AI rapidly transforms our world, learning to distinguish between genuine scientific uncertainty and manufactured doubt has never been more critical.

Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_

RECOMMENDED MEDIA

“Merchants of Doubt” by Naomi Oreskes and Eric Conway

"The Big Myth” by Naomi Oreskes and Eric Conway

"Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson

"The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair

Further reading on the clash between Galileo and the Pope

Further reading on the Montreal Protocol

RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES

Laughing at Power: A Troublemaker’s Guide to Changing Tech

AI Is Moving Fast. We Need Laws that Will Too.

Tech's Big Money Campaign is Getting Pushback with Margaret O'Mara and Brody Mullins

Former OpenAI Engineer William Saunders on Silence, Safety, and the Right to Warn

CORRECTIONS:

  • Naomi incorrectly referenced Global Climate Research Program established under President Bush Sr. The correct name is the U.S. Global Change Research Program.
  • Naomi referenced U.S. agencies that have been created with sunset clauses. While several statutes have been created with sunset clauses, no federal agency has been.

CLARIFICATION: Naomi referenced the U.S. automobile industry claiming that they would be “destroyed” by seatbelt regulation. We couldn’t verify this specific language but it is consistent with the anti-regulatory stance of that industry toward seatbelt laws.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jaksot(158)

How OpenAI's ChatGPT Guided a Teen to His Death

How OpenAI's ChatGPT Guided a Teen to His Death

Content Warning: This episode contains references to suicide and self-harm. Like millions of kids, 16-year-old Adam Raine started using ChatGPT for help with his homework. Over the next few months, th...

26 Elo 202545min

“Rogue AI” Used to be a Science Fiction Trope. Not Anymore.

“Rogue AI” Used to be a Science Fiction Trope. Not Anymore.

Everyone knows the science fiction tropes of AI systems that go rogue, disobey orders, or even try to escape their digital environment. These are supposed to be warning signs and morality tales, not t...

14 Elo 202542min

AI is the Next Free Speech Battleground

AI is the Next Free Speech Battleground

Imagine a future where the most persuasive voices in our society aren't human. Where AI generated speech fills our newsfeeds, talks to our children, and influences our elections. Where digital systems...

31 Heinä 202549min

Daniel Kokotajlo Forecasts the End of Human Dominance

Daniel Kokotajlo Forecasts the End of Human Dominance

In 2023, researcher Daniel Kokotajlo left OpenAI—and risked millions in stock options—to warn the world about the dangerous direction of AI development. Now he’s out with AI 2027, a forecast of where ...

17 Heinä 202538min

Is AI Productivity Worth Our Humanity? with Prof. Michael Sandel

Is AI Productivity Worth Our Humanity? with Prof. Michael Sandel

Tech leaders promise that AI automation will usher in an age of unprecedented abundance: cheap goods, universal high income, and freedom from the drudgery of work. But even if AI delivers material pro...

26 Kesä 202546min

The Narrow Path: Sam Hammond on AI, Institutions, and the Fragile Future

The Narrow Path: Sam Hammond on AI, Institutions, and the Fragile Future

The race to develop ever-more-powerful AI is creating an unstable dynamic. It could lead us toward either dystopian centralized control or uncontrollable chaos. But there's a third option: a narrow pa...

12 Kesä 202547min

People are Lonelier than Ever. Enter AI.

People are Lonelier than Ever. Enter AI.

Over the last few decades, our relationships have become increasingly mediated by technology. Texting has become our dominant form of communication. Social media has replaced gathering places. Dating ...

30 Touko 202543min

Echo Chambers of One: Companion AI and the Future of Human Connection

Echo Chambers of One: Companion AI and the Future of Human Connection

AI companion chatbots are here. Everyday, millions of people log on to AI platforms and talk to them like they would a person. These bots will ask you about your day, talk about your feelings, even gi...

15 Touko 202542min

Suosittua kategoriassa Yhteiskunta

olipa-kerran-otsikko
sita
kaksi-aitia
ihme-ja-kumma
siita-on-vaikea-puhua
i-dont-like-mondays
uutiscast
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
poks
antin-palautepalvelu
kolme-kaannekohtaa
mamma-mia
rss-murhan-anatomia
yopuolen-tarinoita-2
aikalisa
rss-nikotellen
loukussa
meidan-pitais-puhua
rss-palmujen-varjoissa
naakkavalta