Rumors, Disinformation, Conspiracy Theories – From Gutenberg to Social Media and AI

Conference

Heyman Center; Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life; Department of Religion; Department of Germanic Languages

807 Schermerhorn Hall

We live in anxious times where the unfolding powers of social media and AI have led to a surge of rumors, conspiracy, and disinformation. But this is not new. Media revolutions have frequently joined with populist ferment to create monsters. From Luther’s attack on the Pope to our current moment, this conference examines the media histories of rumors, disinformation and conspiracy theory.

Register here.

More information on the SOF/Heyman website

PROGRAM

Thursday, October 17, 2024 

6-8pm | Public Roundtable with Sareeta Amrute, Rivka Galchen, and Zeve Sanderson
How do we account for our seemingly unprecedented crisis in which close to 40 percent of Americans believe that the 2020 election was stolen? Will the distinction between facts and falsehoods, already destabilized by social media, be completely undone by AI? This roundtable gathers experts to shed light on the confluence of technological, social, and political factors that are shaping our current precarious moment. 

Sareeta Amrute, Associate Professor of Strategic Design and Management The New School for Social Research

Rivka Galchen, Staff writer at The New Yorker, Assistant Professor of Writing at Columbia University

Zeve Sanderson, Executive Director, NYU's Center for Social Media and Politics

 

Friday, October 18, 2024

9:15pm | Opening remarks

9:30-11am | Panel One: Thinking Conspiracy, Thinking Media

Francis Cody, Associate Professor of Anthropology and South Asian Studies, University of Toronto

Nico Baumbach, Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies, Columbia University

Atmospheres of Doubt
Lisa Wedeen, Mary R. Morton Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science and the College and Director of the Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory, University of Chicago

Chair
Brian Larkin, Professor of Anthropology, Barnard College

11:30am-1pm | Panel Two: Media and the Dark Side of Collectives
The Pope Ass: Rumors, Pamphlets, and Propaganda
Stefan Andriopoulos, Professor of Germanic Languages, Columbia University

Sebastian Brant’s Political Divination: Providence, Print, and Prodigies
Eli Cumings, Society of Fellows, Columbia University

Vernacular Research Cultures in Conspiratorial Communities
Alice E. Marwick, Associate Professor of Communication, University of North Carolina

Chair
Matthew Engelke, Professor and Chair of the Department of Religion, Columbia University

2-3:30pm | Panel Three: AI, Propaganda, and Misinformation
Thin Fakes, AI, and the Rhythms of Political Rumor
Sahana Udupa, Professor of Media Anthropology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich

Hallucinating Machines
Susan Lepselter, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Indiana University

Seeing Isn't Believing: AI Propaganda and Unreality on Demand
Will Oremus, Technology news analysis writer, The Washington Post

Chair
Dennis Tenen, Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University

4pm-4:30pm | Concluding Discussion

 

Martin Luther, Wider das Papstum zu Rom vom Teufel gestiftet, 1545. Wittenberg durch Hans Lufft. Cover after Lucas Cranach, 1545. Public Domain.   QAnon Map

Organized by Brian Larkin, Matthew Engelke, and Stefan Andriopoulos.