Navigating Truth and Institutions in the Media Landscape

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This chapter explores the challenges posed by social media and alternative media in the current media landscape, including the spread of false information and the manipulation of opinions. It emphasizes the importance of qualified elites and institutions in creating norms for truth testing while acknowledging the need for non-elites to trust these institutions.

Sam Harris speaks with Jonathan Rauch and Josh Szeps about the foundations of knowledge and the fragmentation of society. They discuss the state of the mainstream media, diversity of viewpoints, the "reality-based" community, what Covid did to our information landscape, the Overton window and the news value of controversial stories, the unique challenge of Trump and Trumpism, the dangers of a second Trump term, the problem of immigration and controlling the southern border of the U.S., and other topics.

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