The Present, the identity, and the fake: A semiotic epidemiology

Authors

  • Massimo Leone University of Turin, Italy

Abstract

Sciences and humanities has “fake” at the core of their work.  Nevertheless, new digital technologies are dramatically shifting the landscape. Some of the most haunting phenomena of contemporary societies, such as post-truth, fake news, conspiracy theories and deep fake, are rooted in the interplays between traditional fantasies and new simulacra. Conventional frameworks about truth and falsehood, fact and fiction, are increasingly not enough to address new hybrids coined by digital media. We need an unprecedented collaboration in order to better understand the perpetual changing role of falsehood in contemporary societies. This article discusses the semiotic epidemiology of culture as a new framework in order to study falsehood or fake in contemporary digital societies. 

Keywords:

falsehood, epidemiology, infodemic, Semiotics of Culture, Semionosis

Author Biography

Massimo Leone, University of Turin, Italy

Catedrático de la Universidad de Turín, Italia; Catedrático a tiempo parcial de la Universidad de Shanghái; Profesor asociado de CRASSH, Universidad de Cambridge, y Director de la Fundación Bruno Kessler, Trento. CV: https://unito.academia.edu/MassimoLeone

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