Siebel School Speaker Series Master Calendar

Faculty Short Talks: Karrie Karahalios & Tarek Abdelzaher, "Social Info-Dynamics: Towards a Science of Modeling Human Beliefs"

Event Type

Seminar/Symposium

Sponsor

Illinois Computer Science

Virtual

Date

Oct 4, 2021   12:30 pm  

Views

52

Originating Calendar

Siebel School Speakers Calendar

Karrie Karahalios 

Tarek Abdelzaher

Abstract:
The talk reports recent work and solicits collaborations on a new research direction (for me); namely, a Science of Social Info-Dynamics. Events of the last several years suggest that information dissemination has become weaponized. If information (and disinformation) is used as a weapon to influence population beliefs and behaviors, what do we know about the effects of this weapon on the population? What models characterize these effects? What disciplines need to be involved in developing such models? How to characterize natural social system dynamics in the belief space and discover their equilibria? What ethical actuation can be implemented in that space to efficiently counteract weaponized information? What analytical foundations underlie the development of the above science? The talk describes early results and solicits interest in further joint exploration.