Fake News, Cognitive Pollution and Environmental Awareness

Abstract

This essay pursues the idea that within our new media eco-systems fake news, trolling—and other forms of unethical pseudo-communication—are simply an updated version of the age-old idea of mythmaking. This is a phenomenon which could be better navigated if literature is regarded as a probing tool, as in the teachings of the Toronto School of Communication, instead of seeing literature simply as a subject. Fake news is a growing tree, with roots in classical mythmaking and with branches spreading across a complex inter-media scenario that affects our way of being human (or transhuman), as well as our way of inhabiting our hyperrealities.