PART II – FROM BELONGING TO DIVISION
Question 8
Propaganda, misinformation and epistemic tribes
Groups can disagree about what matters. More dangerously, they can begin to disagree about what is real.
How do people come to inhabit different versions of reality?
We do not encounter information as neutral observers.
We notice some things and ignore others. We trust some sources more than others. And when a belief becomes tied to identity, accepting contrary evidence can begin to feel like betraying our own group.
Modern information systems can intensify this.
The stories that spread furthest are not always the ones that are most true.
Repetition makes claims feel familiar. Fear and outrage capture attention. Algorithms learn what keeps us watching. Communities reward ideas that affirm belonging, while leaders and propagandists can exploit the same machinery deliberately.
Over time, disagreement can become something deeper than competing opinions.
People may consume different evidence, trust different authorities and interpret the same event through entirely different narratives. Each side can then see the other not simply as mistaken, but as irrational, dishonest or manipulated.
This creates another challenge for Beyond Tribes:
How can people disagree profoundly while still sharing enough reality to reason, cooperate and change their minds?
The questions we want to explore
- Why are we more willing to believe information that protects our identity or confirms what we already suspect?
- How do repetition, emotion and social approval make false or misleading claims feel convincing?
- Why do conspiracy theories become especially attractive when trust in institutions collapses?
- How do social networks and recommendation algorithms narrow the information worlds people encounter?
- How do political leaders, movements and propagandists turn uncertainty into enemy stories and false choices?
- Can people become better at recognising manipulation without simply being told which beliefs they are supposed to hold?
Two groups do not need to live in different worlds to become enemies. Sometimes it is enough for them to become convinced that they do.