History
What distinguishes toxic falsehoods from sustaining fictions? And which of the two flourishes in the wilds of the internet, where hoaxes thrive and doctored images abound?
In A History of Fake Things on the Internet, computer scientist Walter J Scheirer proposes that much of what has been disparaged as “misinformation” is best considered under a different rubric: that of art.
“Haven’t creative art forms like the novel always challenged the truth in some way?” he asks. “Why turn away from
