Lies, Damn Lies and Chatbots

Hannah Arendt’s Insights on Deception & Society

When lies pile up, truth crumbles. Hannah Arendt warned us: unchecked deception leads to a society that believes in nothing.

As AI spreads misinformation, are we heading toward a world where truth no longer exists?

Hannah Arendt once wrote,

“What makes it possible for a totalitarian or any other dictatorship to rule is that people are not informed”

In a prescient warning, she described how the absence of a free press opens the door to unchecked deception by those in power. Lies become the currency of the realm. And as the lies pile up, something insidious happens — the very notion of truth starts to crumble.

This is the real danger Arendt identified. Not just that people will believe the lies they are told, but that they will stop believing in anything at all. In the face of a “great number of lies,” the natural response is cynicism and apathy.

Why bother seeking the truth when everything you’re told is fabricated?

Easier to just tune out entirely.

And that’s when the real trouble starts. “A people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind,” Arendt said. “It is deprived not only of its capacity…