Institutions of Epistemic Vigilance: The Case of the Newspaper Press is finally published in Social Epistemology
In our paper, we argue that the need for reliable information boosts the cultural evolution of information curating methods and ultimately (but not necessarily) leads to the creation of institutions of epistemic vigilance.
We have used the late 19th century emergence of mass media as an example to show how social and technological changes disrupt communication environments, and compared these changes to the Digital Age.
In modern times, digitization cut the costs of content curation and distribution, and allowed a deluge of new sources to enter the market. The need for reliable information is still there, yet it might not be satisfied by the evolution of institutions.
Institutions offer to curate information for audiences inside a hectic and multi-modal communication environment: they assess sources and content similarly how epistemic vigilance capacities do for the individual mind.
We further claim, that the observed positive effects of institutions of epistemic vigilance are indeed factors of attraction for the evolution of institutions.