On Rumours: How Falsehoods Spread, Why We Believe Them, What Can Be Done

Written by Cass R. Sunstein

Narrated by William Hope

Rumours are as old as human history, but with the rise of the internet it's now possible to spread stories about anyone, anywhere, instantly. In the 2008 US election many Americans believed Barack Obama was a Muslim. The conspiracy theory book 9/11: The Big Lie has become a bestseller. Hearsay has fuelled economic boom and bust - so much so that in many places it's now a crime to circulate false rumours about banks. Why do ordinary people accept rumours, even untrue, bizarre or damaging ones? Does it matter? And, if so, what should we do about it? As Cass Sunstein shows in his brilliant analysis of the phenomenon, there are many different ways in which rumours are dispersed. He reveals how some people have pre-exisiting prejudices that make them particularly susceptible to certain falsehoods, but also why all of us (even the most sceptical) have a tipping point at which we will come to accept a rumour as true. He looks at why some groups, even different nations, believe different things (for example, many Germans think that drinking water after eating cherries is deadly), and he shows why some rumours spread faster than others. Even if we don't realize it, the most open-minded among us are subject to extraordinary biases. This groundbreaking book will make us think harder about the information we are given, and could help us move towards a more open-minded and fair culture.

“Compelling…full of insights.” GUARDIAN

"More than just a book: It's a manifesto." PROSPECT

• Language: English
• Publisher: W. F. Howes Ltd
• Release date: Dec 19, 2019
• ISBN: 9781528882033

Cass R. Sunstein

Cass R. Sunstein is the nation’s most-cited legal scholar who, for the past fifteen years, has been at the forefront of behavioral economics. From 2009 to 2012, he served as the administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Since that time, he has served in the US government in multiple capacities and worked with the United Nations and the World Health Organization, where he chaired the Technical Advisory Group on Behavioral Insights and Sciences for Health during the COVID-19 pandemic. He is the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard Law School. His book Nudge, coauthored with Richard Thaler, was a national bestseller. In 2018, he was the recipient of the Holberg Prize from the government of Norway, sometimes described as equivalent of the Nobel Prize for law and the humanities. He lives in Boston and Washington, DC, with his wife, children, and labrador retrievers.

Reviews for On Rumours

[G A McKee · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When this audiobook came up in the Scribd account, I was wary. The name Cass Sunstain had become infamous. As the head of the White House Office of Information & Regulatory Affairs in the Obama administration, Sunstein was believed to be the author of the concept & strategy of cognitive infiltration.

This idea was aimed at disarming & confusing the 9/11 truth movement.

As I read this book, with an open mind, I came to understand better the cause of the irreconcilable and unprecedented mass polarization in public opinion that has taken place in relation to the WHO-declared Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic.

Without attempting to go into details, I make the bold claim that this book will go down - in the history of ideas - as a significant work.

It attempts to construct a theory of how false beliefs can arise - at first in the receptor population - through internet information cascades.

In my opinion the book deals with the branch of philosophy called epistemology.

That’s the branch of philosophy that attempts clarify ideas about knowledge and the methods for securing knowledge.

Epistemology is about truth & falsity. It is about the means of knowing or not knowing whether a belief is true or false.

According to my lecture notes, famous modern philosophers who produced works in the field of epistemology - before the internet age - were Bertrand Russell (1872-1970); John Dewey (1859-1952); A.J. Ayer (1910-1989); William James (1942-1910) and many, many more. Going back to pre-Christian times, we have Plato (427-347 BC).

In pre-modern Christian times we had Saint Bonaventura (1221-1274); William of Ockham (1280-1350); Francis Bacon (1561-1626); John Locke (1632-1704); David Hume (1711-1776) - and no doubt scores more - producing intellectual works in the field of epistemology.

There is a saying: people will believe what they want to believe.

I would say this book explains the truth of that saying.

Post-modern woke / neo-Marxist epistemic ideology, as taught in university courses like gender studies and cultural studies etc indoctrinates students by asserting that there are different ways of knowing depending on lived experience.

Thus the existing oppressive heterosexual patriarchy can be confused, disempowered and overthrown through generating false beliefs e.g., that gender is chosen and not given at birth.

In his theory of knowledge and belief, Sunstein explains concepts like Crisis Outrage; Cognitive Dissonance; Emotional Inclination & Disinclination; Groups: Receptors/Neutrals/Skeptics; Tipping Points (as neutrals influenced by the receptors); Information Cascades; Conformity Cascades; Group Polarization; Fear-rumors & Wish-rumors; Recklessness & Negligence (in defamation law); Kernel of Truth (in a false rumor); Echo Chambers; Dystopian Future (enabled by the internet); Cognition & Motivation; Biased Assimilation; Chilling Effects. So on and so forth.

This book by Sunstein helps us understand the part the internet plays in fueling widespread beliefs and opinions. It is probably worth reading by those who want to step back and take stock of their beliefs, labeled conspiracy theories by others.