State of the land: Misinformation and its effects on global catastrophic risks

Abstract

Throughout the pandemic, we’ve experienced firsthand how misinformation and disinformation can prevent an effective response to a global public health issue. We are lucky that the current coronavirus pandemic does not threaten the future of humanity, but, given our experience with COVID-19, it’s difficult to imagine that things would work out much better if the world faced a global catastrophic risk. There are many technological, logistical, and regulatory issues in the pandemic response, but even if these were all solved, it is extremely difficult to effectively coordinate any response to catastrophe[1] when a significant proportion of the global population lacks confidence and trust in government and public health institutions[2].