Digital communications and information technology affect how people perceive their place in the world and how they relate to others, and also define the way we interact with the world." Oxford University professor of philosophy Luciano Floridi believes that with the development of information technology , human beings are entering the fourth decentralization [1] (de-centering shifts) in history . French philosophers in the 17th century believed that humans are the only species that can perform calculations and reasoning based on information.
However, in order to make life easier, data science also entrusts a lot of the work of selecting and processing information to computer agents (agents). Social media photo background removing algorithms automatically push posts and videos to audiences, so that humans are no longer at the center of the infosphere. Despite this, people still have to rely on information to know what is happening in the world around them. Therefore, when governments and large corporations have control over the information circle, they can conduct social manipulations according to their will, and the development of data science has enabled social manipulations to permeate comprehensively. people's daily life. What is social manipulation? The means of manipulating information to influence audiences to achieve specific goals are called differently in various fields, such as information warfare and cognitive warfare.
The US think tank RAND uses hostile social manipulation to describe the purposeful and systematic production and dissemination of information to influence audience attitudes and behaviors, thereby attacking the political, economic and social structure of a target area. Social manipulation through data science typically has three qualities: Using algorithms and big data analysis to achieve computational propaganda that shapes public opinion Weaponizing the digital influence machine Advertising contains content that provokes negative emotions in the audience for fake news, conspiracy theories, etc. 70 countries around the world have "computing promotion" activities According to a 2019 Oxford University study, 70 countries around the world, including Taiwan, can find traces of government computing propaganda, an increase of nearly 2.5 times compared to only 28 countries in 2017. Most of the manipulators use computing propaganda to manipulate domestic public opinion.