True Causes
SV

ATLAS · A CLAIM AND WHERE IT CAME FROM

Being wrong in public costs an institution more than being slow

Raised in 3 rooms

Why are corrections never as loud as the claim?
Why does a lie travel further than the truth?
Why do false claims spread faster than corrections?

→ What leads to it (9)

We cover the row about the change, never the change
certified in 1 room
Checking an institution takes weeks and checking a tweet takes an hour
certified in 1 room
Nobody measures whether our corrections reach the people who saw the claim
certified in 1 room
Checking the powerful is slower per claim, so it loses on the metric
certified in 1 room
Once labelled, a claim cannot get a hearing even when the evidence changes
certified in 1 room
Emergency powers suspend the checks that would have caught it
certified in 1 room
Anyone with relevant expertise has funding from someone with an interest
certified in 1 room
Nobody has ever measured what a late correction costs
certified in 1 room
Retracting a paper takes years and the claim travels in days
certified in 1 room

→ What it leads to (4)

A correction arrives long after the decision it should have changed
certified in 2 rooms
The quiet revision is not an event, so it is not news
certified in 1 room
There is no news hook for 'the advice changed and nobody said'
certified in 1 room
So the incentive is to revise quietly rather than loudly
certified in 1 room

Every room keeps its own record: its map, its rules, and every judged pair with its votes, downloadable from the room. ← The atlas