Three problems. Three layers. Not the same — but related.
Everyone knows the first. Fake news. False information that spreads. The problem is visible, loud, and there are countermeasures: fact-checks, media literacy, correction mechanisms. They work imperfectly, but they exist.
The second is quieter. Sham understanding. The feeling of having understood something without actually having understood it. The nod in the meeting. The «ah, got it» after a fluent explanation. No alarm sounds, because nothing is demonstrably wrong. I wrote about this last year.
The third is emerging now. Sham control. The feeling of having steered an action you only triggered.
* * *
You ask a system: summarize this document. The system summarizes. You read the summary and think: now I know what’s in it.
You don’t. You know what the system considered important. And you mistake one for the other, because you gave the order. It feels as if you’d read the document — through an assistant, but still.
You say: book a flight. Reply to this email. Transfer this amount. The agent acts. You triggered it. Your brain logs it as a deed.
Ellen Langer showed in 1975: an irrelevant action is enough to quadruple the feeling of control. A sentence is enough to believe you decided.
* * *
The three layers are connected.
Whoever consumes fake news has false knowledge. Whoever engages in sham understanding has no knowledge, but the feeling of knowledge. Whoever engages in sham control has no steering, but the feeling of steering.
Fake news is falsifiable — you can check the fact. Sham understanding is private — only you could notice. Sham control is even harder to see. Because the result is usually right. The flight was booked. The email was sent. Everything worked. Why would you doubt?
You only doubt when it doesn’t work. And then it’s too late
* * *
The danger increases with each layer.
With fake news, the damage is epistemic — you believe something false. With sham understanding, the damage is cognitive — you stop thinking. With sham control, the damage is operational — you act without noticing that you’re not acting.
The first can be corrected. The second can be tested with a question. The third you only notice from the result.
And results sometimes come too late.
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The full essay on this topic:
