Can knowledge hurt you? The danger of infohazards (and exfohazards)

Abstract

An overview of information hazards—knowledge whose spread can cause harm—drawing on Nick Bostrom’s typology of potential harms from knowledge. The video distinguishes infohazards from the related concept of exfohazards, and illustrates the ideas with examples spanning nuclear secrecy (Smyth report, FOGBANK), the synthesis of dangerous substances, the Streisand effect, and the Chernobyl accident.