What Magic Can Teach Us About Misinformation

This panel joins together the fields of medicine, magic, and ethics. We will explore how misinformation and disinformation about health is created and spread, and how expectation violation theory, a theory of communication that analyzes how individuals respond to unanticipated violations of social norms and expectations, can help to counteract these narratives. The panel will also discuss what can be learned from magicians, who are often seen as ethical disinformation designers. Panelists will point to how magic acts as fertile ground to approach the topics of misinformation and disinformation in safe, gentle ways. Finally, we will dive into how illusions shed light on the larger implications of neuroethics and epistemic injustice in the future.