8th Layer Insights

If it made you panic, rage, or rush… it probably bypassed your cognitive defenses. In the latest issue of Deceptive Minds, I dig into the dark cognitive malware of emotional hijacking: how scammers, manipulators, and even well-meaning voices use fear, urgency, outrage, and hope to short-circuit your critical thinking. Inside: 🧠 Why your emotions beat your rational mind to the punch 📞 How scam messages and panic phishing bypass logic 📣 What viral rage-bait and fear-mongering have in common 🔥 Plus: how a single fire reshaped a nation — and how the “lie that felt true” still outperforms facts today The stronger the feeling, the weaker the scrutiny. Want the print version? It's available on LinkedIn or my website. References: The Great Moon Hoax: https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2014/08/the-great-moon-hoax/ Moon Shot: Race, a Hoax, and the Birth of Fake News: https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/moon-shot-race-a-hoax-and-the-birth-of-fake-news The True Story of the Reichstag Fire and the Nazi Rise to Power: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-reichstag-fire-and-nazis-rise-power-180962240/ The Missile Gap: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missile_gap Episode 26 of The FAIK Files: Listen here: https://thecyberwire.com/podcasts/the-faik-files/36/notes Watch here: https://youtu.be/2slM09Czy_s?si=D3ZotFEef3zdGbZA Anthropic's Claude 4 Attempts to Blackmail a Researcher: Claude 4 System Card: https://www-cdn.anthropic.com/6be99a52cb68eb70eb9572b4cafad13df32ed995.pdf Something Wild Happens If AI Looks Through Your Emails and Discovers You're Having an Affair: https://futurism.com/ai-email-affair Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some lies try hard to fool you. Others just make it easy for you to believe them. That’s the danger of cognitive fluency: the simpler something feels, the more likely we are to think it’s true. In the latest issue of Deceptive Minds, I explore: Why fake documents with grainy photos often seem more real than verified ones How anti-intellectualism and slogan-based disinfo campaigns thrive on fluency bias And what makes even seasoned professionals fall for staged “leaks,” forged letters, and photo ops 💡 The truth can feel complex and overwhelming. But, the best deceptions...are frictionless. Want to check out the print version? You can ⁠⁠get here as a LinkedIn newslette⁠r⁠. Or you can subscribe to the email version on my website: ⁠⁠https://TheDeceptionProject.com⁠⁠ Anything you'd like me to cover in a future edition? Stay sharp, — Perry hello [at] 8thLayerMedia [dot] com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey friends, Let’s start with a weird truth: People don’t fall for things because they’re true. They fall for things because they’re plausible. That’s the dark magic of deception — it doesn’t need to be airtight, or flawless, or even particularly clever. It just needs to feel true enough. Something your brain can accept without asking too many questions. Welcome to the Plausibility Effect — the sneaky cognitive glitch that powers scams, fuels misinformation, and makes even the dumbest conspiracies stubbornly sticky. Want to check out the print version? You can ⁠get here as a LinkedIn newsletter⁠. Or you can subscribe to the email version on my website: ⁠https://TheDeceptionProject.com⁠ Anything you'd like me to cover in a future edition? Stay sharp, — Perry hello [at] 8thLayerMedia [dot] com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Explore the intriguing world of attention theft, where con artists and tricksters vie for your focus. Delve into historical deception techniques, like Operation Fortitude, and learn how modern scams employ urgency and authority to distract and manipulate. Discover practical defenses to guard your cognitive space and sharpen your critical thinking skills. This engaging discussion not only uncovers the art of deception but also empowers you to reclaim your attention in an era of constant distractions.

Hey friends! Here's issue 2 of Deceptive Minds: a newsletter about how we are fooled, how we fool ourselves, and what we can do about it. 🔥 Since starting this newsletter last week, we're already closing in on 3,000 subscribers to the print edition! 🔥 Huge thanks to everyone who's jumped in early! This week, I'm diving into what I call the “artifacts of deception,” and why the flashy stuff (deepfakes, fake emails, cloned voices) isn’t the real trick you need to watch for. Hope you enjoy this exploration into the hidden mechanics of how deception *really* works. Here we go… — Perry The Deception Project Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Hey listeners, Perry Carpenter here. Yeah, it's been a while since I've posted this feed, but I've got something exciting that I think you'll be interested in. It's the audio version of a newsletter that I recently started. The newsletter is called Deceptive Minds, and it's all about how we are fooled, how we fool ourselves, and what we can do about it. In other words, it's the exact right newsletter for the 8th Layer Insights audience. So for the next little bit at least, I'm going to post these audio newsletters into the 8Li feed -- exactly where you are right now. We'll see if it grows into something else or if it fades into oblivion. But regardless, I hope you enjoy it while it's here. So with that, let's get to episode one... or I guess I should call it issue number one of Deceptive Minds, the audio newsletter, If you're interested in the print version, it's a LinkedIn newsletter and you can also subscribe on my new website, The Deception Project, at https://thedeceptionproject.com. So, regardless of your format of choice, unless you want to see my face reading this on video, you can get the audio version right here or you can read the print version on LinkedIn or in an email that will make its way to your inbox and hopefully not to your spam filter. With that, let's go ahead and get to issue number one. Thanks! Perry Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Note: We're posting Perry's new show, "The FAIK Files", to this feed through the end of 2024. This will give you a chance to get a feel for the new show and subscribe to the new feed if you want to keep following in 2025. Welcome back to the show that keeps you informed on all things artificial intelligence and natural nonsense. In our holiday episode, Mason opens a rather unique Christmas present from Perry, we invite a special guest to help explain the infamous "Paperclip Maximizer" thought experiment, and we discuss an interesting (and somewhat disturbing) new AI Safety paper from Apollo Research.Want to leave us a voicemail? Here's the magic link to do just that: https://sayhi.chat/FAIKYou can also join our Discord server here: https://discord.gg/cThqEnMhJz*** NOTES AND REFERENCES ***An interesting cluster of new AI safety research papers: Apollo research: Frontier Models are Capable of In-context Scheming (Dec 5, 2024) YouTube Video: Apollo Research - AI Models Are Capable Of In Context Scheming Dec 2024 YouTube Video: Cognitive Revolution - Emergency Pod: o1 Schemes Against Users, with Alexander Meinke from Apollo Research OpenAI o1 System Card (Dec 5, 2024) Anthropic: Alignment Faking in Large Language Models (Dec 18, 2024) Anthropic: Sycophancy to subterfuge: Investigating reward tampering in language models (June 17, 2024) Fudan University: Frontier AI systems have surpassed the self-replicating red line (Dec 9, 2024) Other Interesting Bits: The Paperclip Maximizer thought experiment explanation Theory of Instrumental Convergence iPhone Game: Universal Paperclips VoxEU: AI and the paperclip problem Real Paperclips! 500 Pack Paper Clips (assorted sizes) OpenAI Announces New o3 Reasoning Model: OpenAI's "12 Days of Ship-mas" announcement page YouTube video: OpenAI's announcement of their o3 Model TechCrunch: OpenAI announces new o3 models Wired: OpenAI Upgrades Its Smartest AI Model With Improved Reasoning Skills TechCrunch: OpenAI trained o1 and o3 to ‘think’ about its safety policy Matthew Berman YouTube video: OpenAI Unveils o3! AGI ACHIEVED! NewScientist: OpenAI's o3 model aced a test of AI reasoning – but it's still not AGI Yahoo Finance: OpenAI considers AGI clause removal for Microsoft investment *** THE BOILERPLATE ***About The FAIK Files: The FAIK Files is an offshoot project from Perry Carpenter's most recent book, FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions. Get the Book: FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions (Amazon Associates link) Check out the website for more info: https://thisbookisfaik.com Check out Perry & Mason's other show, the Digital Folklore Podcast: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-folklore/id1657374458 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2v1BelkrbSRSkHEP4cYffj?si=u4XTTY4pR4qEqh5zMNSVQA Other: https://digitalfolklore.fm  Want to connect with us? Here's how:Connect with Perry: Perry on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/perrycarpenter Perry on X: https://x.com/perrycarpenter Perry on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/perrycarpenter.bsky.social Connect with Mason: Mason on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mason-amadeus-a853a7242/ Mason on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/pregnantsonic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Note: We're posting Perry's new show, "The FAIK Files", to this feed through the end of the year. This will give you a chance to get a feel for the new show and subscribe to the new feed if you want to keep following in 2025. Welcome back to the show that keeps you informed on all things artificial intelligence and natural nonsense. Warning: today's episode gets a bit dark as we chat with seasoned prosecutor and founder of Operation Shamrock, Erin West, about a devastating combination of attacks known as "Pig Butchering" scams. We go deep into how they work and what we can do about them.Want to leave us a voicemail? Here's the magic link to do just that: https://sayhi.chat/FAIKYou can also join our Discord server here: https://discord.gg/cThqEnMhJz*** NOTES AND REFERENCES ***Learn more about Erin West Erin's LinkedIn Profile Operation Shamrock Pig Butchering Scams: CNN Story featuring Erin West: Killed by a scam: A father took his life after losing his savings to international criminal gangs. He’s not the only one CNN Story: Hear how this man lost $1M in a 'pig butchering' crypto scam CNN Story: Myanmar-based gangs force trafficking victims to scam Americans online YouTube video: John Oliver episode FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) Ok, doomer! Let's talk P(doom): NY Times article: Silicon Valley Confronts a Grim New A.I. Metric FastCompany article: P(doom) is AI's latest apocalypse metric. Here's how to calculate your score Wikipedia Entry PauseAI P(doom) records *** THE BOILERPLATE ***About The FAIK Files: The FAIK Files is an offshoot project from Perry Carpenter's most recent book, FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions. Get the Book: FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions (Amazon Associates link) Check out the website for more info: https://thisbookisfaik.com Check out Perry & Mason's other show, the Digital Folklore Podcast: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-folklore/id1657374458 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2v1BelkrbSRSkHEP4cYffj?si=u4XTTY4pR4qEqh5zMNSVQA Other: https://digitalfolklore.fm  Want to connect with us? Here's how:Connect with Perry: Perry on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/perrycarpenter Perry on X: https://x.com/perrycarpenter Perry on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/perrycarpenter.bsky.social Connect with Mason: Mason on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mason-amadeus-a853a7242/ Mason on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/pregnantsonic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join an engaging discussion about AI's surprising roles, like how ChatGPT helped solve tech issues in a home studio. Dive into the mystery of 'David Mayer,' whose name sparked wild conspiracy theories and raised important privacy questions. Explore Tencent's innovative open-source video AI that's shaking up the landscape. And don't miss the latest drama of leaked OpenAI models, adding fuel to the AI dumpster fire. This mix of humor and insights makes for a fascinating exploration of modern tech and its quirks!

Note: We're posting Perry's new show, "The FAIK Files", to this feed through the end of the year. This will give you a chance to get a feel for the new show and subscribe to the new feed if you want to keep following in 2025. Welcome back to The FAIK Files— the show about artificial intelligence and natural nonsense!In this week’s episode: Mason has an update on last week's shocking story of Google Gemini’s alleged threats against a user. Is this a glitch, a hack, or something more sinister? We sit down with cybersecurity expert Justin “Hutch” Hutchins (author of The Language of Deception) to dive into his experience weaponizing large language models and what it means for the future of AI. And finally, we lighten things up with some fun AI music experiments, showing that Perry & Mason may have too much time on their hands, Want to leave us a voicemail? Here's the magic link to do just that: https://sayhi.chat/FAIKYou can also join our Discord server here: https://discord.gg/cThqEnMhJz*** NOTES AND REFERENCES ***Hutch's stuff: Justin's Book: The Language of Deception: Weaponizing Next Generation AI AI podcast: The Frontier Today (Apple Podcasts) (Spotify) Justin and Len Noe’s podcast: Cyber Cognition (Apple Podcasts) (Spotify) RSA Conference talk: Autonomous Hacking Systems - Future Risk or FUD Houston Security Conference talk: This is how we lose control - Focused on the catastrophic/societal risks - P(Doom) Mason's update on theories about Google Gemini threatening people: AI Didn’t Threaten Humanity—The Media Did: Breaking Down the Gemini Incident LLM Context Windows Lost in the Middle: How Language Models Use Long Contexts Attention Sorting Combats Recency Bias in Long Context Large Language Models Cognitive Overload Attack: Prompt Injection for Long Context Suno and Generative AI Music Generation: Suno Udio Whispers in the Static (full song generated on Suno) Experimental outro from today's episode (Suno) Wired: US Record Labels Sue AI Music Generators Suno and Udio for Copyright Infringement Soundiiz Blog: The music industry is at war against AI: Suno and Udio’s case *** THE BOILERPLATE ***About The FAIK Files: The FAIK Files is an offshoot project from Perry Carpenter's most recent book, FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions. Get the Book: FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions (Amazon Associates link) Check out the website for more info: https://thisbookisfaik.com Check out Perry & Mason's other show, the Digital Folklore Podcast: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-folklore/id1657374458 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2v1BelkrbSRSkHEP4cYffj?si=u4XTTY4pR4qEqh5zMNSVQA Other: https://digitalfolklore.fm  Want to connect with us? Here's how:Connect with Perry: Perry on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/perrycarpenter Perry on X: https://x.com/perrycarpenter Perry on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/perrycarpenter.bsky.social Connect with Mason: Mason on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mason-amadeus-a853a7242/ Mason on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/pregnantsonic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices