Re:Underestimating the mind-warping potential of fake video
by jerf on Monday April 23, 2018 @03:59PM
(#16906849)
"Putting words in other people's mouths and manipulating voices is fake speech, and is the direct opposite of free speech."
Another example of where a sufficiently large quantitative change becomes a qualitative change. Historically speaking there's nothing new about false attributing speech to some authority, but people had built-in instincts to deal with people simply saying that X said Y and could treat it with some salt. But easy fake videos reverses the situation; we have built-in instincts that say we should trust the video as a reliable representation of the putative speaker, even if we in intellectually know better.
Even if you flashed a warning "THIS IS A FAKE VIDEO" constantly, I bet you'd still be able to run studies that show disproportionate effects on people as a result of a sufficiently good fake video.
Which leads to what needs to be considered the greatest sin and betrayal of all: The creating and promoting of such videos.
No one creates a false video by accident. They know what they are doing, and their intentions are clear.
And this is not free speech.
Putting words in other people's mouths and manipulating voices is fake speech, and is the direct opposite of free speech.