Information Cascades – The Power of Misinformation in Film and Society
Disclaimer: This post has spoilers for the 2013 film Oblivion.
The year is 2077. The Earth has been ravaged by an alien race in search of resources from their dying planet. Humanity was able to defend the Earth, but now the Earth is inhabitable and the only choice left for humans was to leave Earth and live on one of Saturn’s moons.
Jack Harper remains on Earth with his communications officer, Victoria, who is also his romantic partner to defend energy production sites on Earth that fuel the human colonies planets away from aliens that have managed to survive on Earth. They report to the Tet, the mission control space station orbiting Earth and are expected to return to humanity in 2 weeks time. Both Jack and Victoria underwent the mind wipe which erased all their memories before the mission. What Jack and Victoria do not know is that everything is a lie.
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An information cascade is a phenomenon in which based on the information of those ahead of them an individual and those after them will follow decision of those in front of them, even if the decision is different from their personal choice. This is also known as herding.
Information cascades can be seen in several avenues of social interaction from political beliefs, fashion trends, technological choices, etc. We can see this same phenomenon in Oblivion. The major plot twist of the film is that humanity lost the war. Jack and Victoria are clones from humans who existed before the war, and they have been working for the aliens who created them. Not only that, but they are also one in thousands of these same clones and the return to the Tet is death and a setup for the next set of clones to replace their spot on Earth. There are a multitude of Jacks and Victorias scattered around Earth at this same time, but none are aware of the other. The “aliens” they had been protecting the resource rigs from were actually the humans who survived the alien invasion and were retaliating against the real aliens.
I saw the ties that misinformation had on the characters within this film as well as the larger social commentary the film was making. Society has seen a larger political split then ever due to not only misinformation but also because, like Jack, individuals follow the common beliefs and trends around them. Jack and all the clones observed the information given to them and followed orders despite their personal beliefs.
In my research to learn more about the power of misinformation, I read an article about misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic and how false news affected society and fueled harmful campaigns. Studies showed that, “anywhere from 15% to 37%—believed misinformation about COVID-19 in April and May 2020, representing what the authors call a “major threat to public health.” People who were more susceptible to misinformation were less likely to report complying with public health recommendations and less likely to say they’d get vaccinated. (Abrams, 2021). In the height of the pandemic, information that the virus was a government conspiracy spread and many refused to be vaccinated, wear masks, and comply with health recommendations released by health organizations. This information cascade could have been a major factor into the overall effect and duration of the pandemic. In this case as well, misinformation and information cascades had a negative affect on society as a whole.
What I learned from this connection is that society must be aware of the dangers of misinformation, the information cascade phenomenon, and just how fast misinformation can spread. I could see the connections that the domino effect of information cascades had from real world crisis to small rumors which can spread in my social circles. Although we (hopefully) do not have to worry about an alien race invasion, we must tread carefully with the information we digest and believe around us because if not we may find ourselves creating problems which cannot be solved as simply as a movie plot hole and clean ending.
Resources:
https://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/kleinber/networks-book/networks-book-ch16.pdf
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2021/03/controlling-misinformation