Epistemic Virtue
Which qualities help people avert conspiracy theories, fake news, and misinformation? I use virtue epistemology and data science to understand how to avoid falling for misinformation, conspiracy theories, and fake news.
The Conspiracy Generator
Together with Maarten Boudry, I developed the Conspiracy Generator, an educational tool using AI to demonstrate how conspiracy theories can be generated from any piece of news. The best way to learn to spot a conspiracy theory is to make one yourself: pick a real news story, choose who is behind it and why, and walk through the four moves real conspiracists use, with a debunk on every step.
The Epistemic Vice Scale
Epistemic vices are character traits that undermine knowledge and understanding. The Epistemic Vice Scale is a ten-item survey to measure epistemic vice, developed with Boudewijn de Bruin and Mark Alfano. Our research has demonstrated a strong relationship between epistemic vice scores and the ability to identify false conspiracy theories, misinformation about COVID-19, and fake news. The articles developing and testing the scale are listed under Research.