Debunk: Arm Yourself With the Tenets of Critical Thinking

DEBUNK is a reference for critical thinking, logical fallacies, and the scientific method. It explores critical thinking from several aspects and provides readers a toolkit for spotting misinformation, disinformation, fake news, and deep fakes. Tenets of critical thinking are noted in the text and then listed in a section at the end of the book. There is an appendix with a detailed list of logical fallacies, with examples.

The invention and widespread use of computers, and especially the proliferation of the Internet, brought us into a time when ordinary people have immediate access to more information than professors, librarians, and heads of state had access to only a short time ago. This is empowering, but it is also dangerous-the Information Age is also the Misinformation and Disinformation Age, and it is easier to find bad information on the Internet than good. Add to that the entities that have been popping up seemingly with the express purpose of disseminating fake news and the recent invention of deep fakes that are becoming harder and harder to detect, and the need for critical thinking, which provides a toolkit for spotting bunk, becomes more and more vital.

This book is that toolkit.