RD BK X “Belief is contagious.”

 A

wiscnsn vs 

I wasn’t able to find a full, reliable “chapter-by-chapter” source with all quotations, but I’ve collected more detailed notes + key ideas and select quotes from the sources I did locate. Use these as a solid foundation for your own detailed notes or essay. Let me know if you want me to dig further (e.g. via library access).

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Expanded Notes & Key Ideas from The Misinformation Age

These notes draw on reviews, reflections, and excerpts. They reconstruct core arguments, examples, and some (partial) quotations.

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Introduction & Chapter 1: “What Is Truth? / The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary”

Key ideas / arguments:

• The authors open with the fable of the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary — a medieval myth in which a plant supposedly bore lambs. It illustrates how people once accepted implausible beliefs. (cf. vialogue reflections) (vialogue)

• Their goal: explain how false beliefs form, persist, and spread — not by blaming irrational individuals, but by analyzing social structures and communication networks. (thebsps.org)

• They argue that focusing on individual psychology (biases, gullibility) is insufficient; one must model how beliefs “flow” in social networks. (thebsps.org)

• They adopt a pragmatic-flavored conception of truth: true beliefs are those that reliably guide action; false beliefs tend to mislead or fail. (thebsps.org)

Select quotations / notable phrases:

• “Our beliefs about the world matter.” (vialogue)

• “Many of our beliefs — perhaps most of them — have a more complex origin: we form them on the basis of what other people tell us.” (vialogue)

• “Widespread falsehood is a necessary, but harmful, corollary to our most powerful tools for learning truths.” (vialogue)

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Chapter 2: Polarization, Conformity, & Consensus in Scientific Communities

Key ideas / arguments:

• The authors build and employ network / agent-based models (drawing on Bala–Goyal frameworks) to simulate how scientists update beliefs and influence each other. (thebsps.org)

• Even when all agents are rational and evidence-seeking, the network dynamics can lead to false consensus (i.e. a group converging on a wrong belief) under some conditions. (E-International Relations)

• Introducing conformity pressure (a desire to align with peers) degrades epistemic performance: more false beliefs tend to survive when social incentives to conform outweigh incentives to seek truth. (thebsps.org)

• Polarization can emerge: agents may split into factions, discounting evidence from those they distrust, making it hard to reach consensus. (thebsps.org)

• The authors explore variant update rules (e.g. Jeffrey’s rule) to handle uncertain trust in others’ evidence. (thebsps.org)

Select quotations / notable phrases:

• “Individually rational agents can form groups that are not rational at all.” (annejanzer.com)

• In the review: scientists “regularly split into polarized groups with different beliefs … in some cases, no amount of evidence … will be able to move the credences of the scientists who are in error.” (thebsps.org)

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Chapter 3: “The Evangelization of Peoples” / Science → Policy / Propaganda

Key ideas / arguments:

• This chapter examines the interface between expert scientists, policymakers / elites, and propagandists. (thebsps.org)

• A propagandist is modelled as an actor who is not interested in truth but in influencing beliefs of policymakers. (thebsps.org)

• Propagandists can manipulate the belief ecosystem via:

  1. Biased production (influencing what scientific results are produced or highlighted)

  2. Industrial selection (influencing which scientists/papers are disseminated or amplified)

  3. Selective sharing (curating which results policymakers see)

  4. Attacking or elevating reputations to influence trust in evidence sources. (thebsps.org)

• Even if scientists reach a true consensus, policymakers may still hold false beliefs if propagandists distort the “visibility” or perceived credibility of evidence. (thebsps.org)

• The more independent scientific connections policymakers have, the more resilient they are to propaganda. (thebsps.org)

Select quotations / notable phrases:

• From the review: “Propagandists can manipulate peoples’ beliefs simply by biasing … the way research results are shared with non-experts, such as policymakers (‘selective sharing’).” (thebsps.org)

• “Whether or not we support the reduction of public debt will depend on ‘what we believe about whether the debt will affect our future well‐being’” (as an example of contested factual claims) (thebsps.org)

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Chapter 4 (and beyond): Spread Among the Public, Media, Polarization, & Remedies

While less fully documented in the sources I found, these chapters address:

Key ideas / arguments:

• The mechanisms identified for scientists/policymakers also apply to public belief networks: testimonial influence, trust, reputation, selective sharing, echo chambers. (E-International Relations)

• Media and social platforms amplify misinformation via algorithmic incentives (virality, engagement), economic pressures (clicks), and norms like “balance” (giving fringe views equal space). (SoBrief)

• Polarization is exacerbated by selective exposure, identity, group loyalty, and distrust of outside sources. (SoBrief)

• Democratic institutions are vulnerable: if public belief can be manipulated, then elections, policy, and accountability suffer. (SoBrief)

• Proposed interventions:

  • Reforming media incentives (e.g. fact-checking, reducing false-balance) (thebsps.org)

  • Improving science communication, trust networks, reputation systems

  • Designing better institutional safeguards to resist propaganda

  • Cultivating epistemic virtues: trustworthiness, openness, critical thinking (vialogue)

Select quotations / notable phrases:

• “Can democracy survive in an age of fake news?” (Goodreads)

• “Most of us get our false beliefs from the same places we get our true ones, and if we want the good stuff, we risk getting the bad as well.” (annejanzer.com)

• From SoBrief summary:

  “Media and social platforms amplify misinformation through algorithmic and economic incentives.” (SoBrief)

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If you like, I can produce a fully fleshed, citation-rich PDF of chapter summaries + ~10–15 quotes per chapter (if I can access the full text), so you have a ready study guide. Do you want me to do that (I can try via your library access or open access)?

C

Here’s a bullet-point gist of the “Sacramental Reality” meditations:

• Sunday (Richard Rohr):

  • Gaze at a leaf to experience it as participating in God’s eternal being.

  • Meet reality “center to center,” respecting inner dignity.

• Monday (Christine Valters Paintner):

  • Sacramental vision deepens love for God’s ways.

  • Fosters a sense of kinship with all creation.

• Tuesday:

  • Pause for reflection and support for the CAC’s work.

  • Encourages gifts to sustain love, justice, and inner freedom.

• Wednesday (Richard Rohr):

  • “This is my Body” refers to the whole universe, all physical and spirit-filled things.

• Thursday (Grace Ji-Sun Kim):

  • Baptism highlights that all water is sacred.

  • Calls for honoring, caring for, and revering water.

• Friday (Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder):

  • Sacred is what transcends self, connects us to mystery, and reveals our relationship with all living beings.

If you want, I can also make a super-condensed 1-line-per-day version for quick memorization.

A

SRM

From ~~~ Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, T. 279.

Q.:

How long does it take a man to be reborn after death?

Is it immediately after death or some time after?

M.:

You do not know what you were before birth,

yet you want to know what you will be after death.

Do you know what you are now?

Birth and rebirth pertain to the body.

You are identifying the Self with the body.

It is a wrong identification.

You believe that the body has been born and will die,

and confound the phenomena relating to the one with the other.

Know your real being and these questions will not arise.

Birth and rebirth are mentioned only

to make you investigate the question

and find out that there are neither births nor rebirths.

They relate to the body and not to the Self.

Know the Self and be not perturbed by doubts.

A

Here’s a bullet-point gist of your text:

• Nyaya:

  • Teaches recognition of spiritual experience.

  • Helps distinguish fantasy, external nature, and genuine spiritual experiences.

• Vaisheshika:

  • Treatise on subtle, causal, and atomic principles.

  • Explores matter, four elements, and spirit.

• Uttara & Poorva Mimamsa:

  • Theology divided into questions (Poorva) and answers (Uttara).

• Tantra:

  • Focuses on transcendence of human nature.

  • Aims for higher knowledge, experience, and awareness.

• Charvak:

  • Materialistic, practical philosophy.

  • Accepts only what is perceptible; rejects what is beyond sensory experience.

• Upanishads:

  • Teach truths from realized teachers.

  • Promote integrated lifestyle, balanced mind, and spiritual understanding.

  • 108 major and 10,000+ minor Upanishads; 22 focus on yoga.

• Five basic questions underlying these schools:

  1. Composition and function of the body.

  2. Nature of prana and its relation to the body.

  3. (Text cuts off, but likely about interaction of prana with mind and matter.)

I can also make a concise table of all 8 darshans plus Upanishads with key points for easy reference. Do you want me to do that?

A