Atomic scientists: Fake news now a possible threat to humanity

Atomic scientists who have been assessing global security for decades now consider fake news as one of the emerging technologies that can be used to endanger humanity as a whole.

According to the report written by the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, several emerging technologies such as fake news, information monocultures, and hacking and release of potentially-damaging emails can now be used to undermine world democracies by weakening people’s belief in government.

“Information monocultures, fake news, and the hacking and release of politically sensitive emails may have had an illegitimate impact on the US presidential election, threatening the fabric of democracy, which relies on an informed electorate to decide the direction of public policy—including policy relating to existential threats such as nuclear weapons and climate change,” the report said.

The atomic scientists highlighted as an example the conclusion of US intelligence agencies that Russia intervened in the 2016 US presidential election to help Donald Trump win the White House. This has underscored the weaknesses of critical information systems on the internet, according to the group.

The Philippines has not been spared by the issue on the misinformation spawned by fake news. Recently, Sen. Francis Pangilinan filed Senate Resolution 271 that aimed to probe into the proliferation of spurious news on the internet and punish Facebook for its “inaction.”

In addition to attacks on the democratic process, the report warned that technologies such as sophisticated hacking could be deployed to threaten and disrupt financial activities, national electrical power grids and plants (including nuclear plants), and personal freedoms.

This assessment on the possible use of emerging technologies to threaten humanity comes after the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved the minute hand of their Doomsday Clock 30 seconds closer to midnight partly because of the words and actions of US President Trump. The clock is now at two minutes and 30 seconds to midnight.

The Doomsday Clock was established in 1947 by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists to assess threats to humanity and the planet. It is an indicator of the world’s vulnerability to nuclear weapons, climate change, and new technologies.