Freeborn, David and O'Connor, Cailin (2024) Industrial Distraction. [Preprint]

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Abstract

There are myriad techniques industry actors use to shape the public understanding of science. While a naive view might assume these techniques typically involve fraud or outright deception, the truth is more nuanced. This paper analyzes industrial distraction, a common technique where industry actors fund and share research that is accurate, often high quality, but nonetheless misleading on important matters of fact. This involves reshaping causal understanding of phenomena with distracting information. Using case studies and causal models, we illustrate how this impacts belief and decision making even for rational learners, informing science policy and debates about misleading content.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Freeborn, David david.freeborn@nulondon.ac.uk O'Connor, Cailin cailino@uci.edu 0000-0002-8351-2575
Additional Information:	Forthcoming in Philosophy of Science
Keywords:	causal models, industry, science communication, propaganda
Subjects:	General Issues > Causation General Issues > Decision Theory General Issues > History of Science Case Studies General Issues > Science and Society
Depositing User:	Dr. Cailin O'Connor
Date Deposited:	28 Aug 2024 03:36
Last Modified:	18 Dec 2024 13:33
Item ID:	23843
Subjects:	General Issues > Causation General Issues > Decision Theory General Issues > History of Science Case Studies General Issues > Science and Society
Date:	17 December 2024
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/23843

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