Reality Lost

This open access book looks at how a democracy can devolve into a post-factual state. The media is being flooded by populist narratives, fake news, conspiracy theories, and make-believe. Misinformation is turning into a challenge for all of us, whether politicians, journalists, or citizens. In the age of information, attention is a prime asset and may be converted into money, power, and influence—sometimes at the cost of facts. The point is to obtain exposure in the air and print media and to generate traffic on social media platforms. With information in abundance and attention scarce, the competition is ever fiercer, with truth all too often becoming the first victim.

"Reality Lost: Markets of Attention, Misinformation and Manipulation" is an analysis by philosophers Vincent F. Hendricks and Mads Vestergaard of the nuts and bolts of the information market, the attention economy, and the media ecosystem which may pave the way to post-factual democracy. Here, misleading narratives become the basis for political opinion formation, debate, and legislation. To curb this development and the threat it poses to democratic deliberation, political self-determination, and freedom, it is necessary that we first grasp the mechanisms and structural conditions that cause it.