There is an emerging hidden power that keeps on firming. It brings new challenges and risks to cope with its far-reaching power. I want to start with a few examples
- The power that people believe fake information such as brown eggs are more nutritive than white eggs. This is not true as the color difference is only due to the pigment in the eggshell.
- The false claim that one brand of cigarettes causes infertility in men to halt its rapid growth of sales. This led to its desertion from markets in a few months.
- Spinach tablets enabled Popeye – a claim that applies to many other vegetables. For what purpose did spinach enjoy such a reputation?
The above examples offer other examples of The Mandela Effect. The term originated in 2009 by Fiona Broome believed that Nelson Mandela had died in the 1980s (when he actually died in 2013).
The emerging growing power of The Mandela Effect is due to the digital age that is bringing masses disruption to our norm of life.
It is the new game that many people with just talents for spread bad news and false information to enhance their influence. The power of spreading vicious acts with such ease.
- To kill a product, spread bad word about it, and influence the masses to believe in it and fall into the trap of The Mandela Effect.
- To eliminate an influential opposing leader just spread wittingly bad news about him such as having a sexual affair and ruining his political future.
- To spread hatred of a religion/nation spread news including funny ones that people of that nation have tails (this happened and is not a fake story).
Digital Age is the new billiard table
The way neuroscience explains The Mandela Effect is very similar to what Rached Alimi proposed in a recent article published on BIZCATALYST 360°. The article titled The Consequences Alimi wrote “In life, the actions we take can be compared to a billiard ball carom: every move we make affects other balls around us, creating a chain effect that can lead to surprising and unexpected results. Often, we do not realize the impact our actions can have on others and on ourselves.”
This is similar to the explanation of The Mandela Effect. The “balls of effect” are the billiard balls that if one moves, it affects the movement of other balls creating a domino effect.
This effect is multiplying in the digital age to the extent that fake news and rumors won out over the truth every time by about 70%.
The power of the digital billiard table is making the fake real and the real fake. We need to watch out for its sweeping power.
With so many sources of information online, it has become difficult to make sense of which content is based on fact, half-truths or lies. Using digital platforms to share things we believe to be true when they may not be can have a powerful knock-on effect, influencing others to see them as fact.
Fake social media posts and accounts help make misinformation go viral.
Exposure to disinformation can reduce trust in the media more broadly, making it harder to know what is fact or fiction in the future. When we start to believe that there is a possibility that anything could be false, it’s easier to discount what is actually true. Often these “hoaxes” at first glance seem plausible: to understand that it is false information, it takes a lot of critical spirit and you usually need to do a little research on data and sources. This poses a real concern about the impact on children and young people who may be persuaded to take distorted worldviews that could cause them harm in the real world.
You described throughly Aldo the chaos that we live in.
Even though we live in a VUCA world some people add to its chaos by publishing and spreading fake news, information and rumors.
Where shall this lead to I hope not what I am afraid of.