#274 - Dr. Sander van der Linden: Is MISINFORMATION The Next Biological Weapon?
Professor Sander van der Linden’s fascination with misinformation traces back to his own family’s scars under Nazism, a regime that perfected propaganda so insidious it seeped invisibly into everyday life. In his award-winning book Foolproof, van der Linden argues that misinformation is a psychological virus, spreading through minds the way a biological virus hijacks cells. From Third Reich leaflets to modern algorithms, the tools have evolved, but the core infection remains the same: exploiting our mental shortcuts and illusions of truth. As the Capitol riots show, unchecked lies can kill. Van der Linden’s mission is urgent: to build psychological vaccines that inoculate society from misinformation before deepfakes, AI, and data-hungry platforms unleash the next generation of invisible propaganda and push us past the point of no return. Guest bio: Professor Sander van der Linden is a Cambridge social psychologist and award-winning author of Foolproof. He pioneered the concept of “psychological vaccines” against misinformation, advises governments and tech companies worldwide, and his research has shaped global strategies to combat fake news, conspiracy theories, and the growing threat of deepfakes. Van der Linden is the Professor of Social Psychology in Society in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge and Director of the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab.