Veritá

Over het initiatief / About the initiative

Veritá

In welke fase zit jouw initiatief? / In what stage is your initiative?

Uitgewerkt conceptfase

Heb je jouw initiatief al gevalideerd? / Did you validate your initiative?

Both journalists and consumers, as well as a variety of experts in relevant fields have confirmed the value of such a tool.

Meer informatie over jouw initiatief / More info about your initiative

The Problem

Media in all its various forms has an increasingly significant impact on our society. Information has become one of the most important resources, and recent events have shown how elections, wars, and economical change are manipulated using media narratives. Our socio-economic systems have created an environment which incentivizes clickbait and rewards falsities and polarizing narratives. It has become increasingly difficult to obtain objective and reliable information on current events and socioeconomic issues. The search for truth has become an outdated ambition reserved for few, privileged individuals with the ability to critically analyze and reflect on the presented information.

Our solution

With a systemic and unbiased approach to finding the truth, Veritá will help journalists to produce better media, and the public to critically reflect on presented information. This will be achieved with decentralized source verification and advanced language processing.
A decentralized network will analyze and cross-reference millions of sources to determine the credibility of data, statistics, and events used in media narratives. In combination with advance language processing algorithms, this database can then be used to identify logical mistakes, unintended assumptions, as well as manipulative arguments in media narratives. 

For a detailed explanation of how this tool will work, please visit our website!

All algorithms used will be open source and continuously updated in a democratic manner. To prohibit manipulation, these algorithms are then run on a network of nodes spread worldwide, like already seen with blockchain technology. With a clear devotion to eliminate biases and search for objective truth, a high level of socio-economic diversification, as well as worldwide spread of the network, is the goal.

The Mission

At its heart, this Project aims to stimulate and support the revival of the search for truth. Fighting against fake news and manipulation, it offers the opportunity to decide together what truth means, and helps us to come as close to it as possible.

Wat zijn jouw volgende stappen om het verder te ontwikkelen? / What are your next steps to develop the initiative?

A far way to go

To get it right and achieve the intended objective, every aspect needs to be implemented with great attention to detail and after a thorough analysis of possible unintended consequences and ethical concerns. Furthermore, several technological innovations and new solutions need to be developed. Therefore, this Project requires a big team with a wide range of expertise.

What is truth, and how can we find it?

To answer this question in a thorough and unbiased manner and ensure close ethical control, a team of philosophers, epistemologists, ethicists, and journalists will be gathered. This team will determine the underlying principles that are used to develop the algorithmic search for truth, as well as the democratic way to constantly review and improve it. It will then be up to a team of Computer scientists and developers, to translate those principles into a working application and provide all the necessary technological innovations. Close interdisciplinary collaboration between the theoretical and technical team is essential.

Technological development

Several technological innovations are still necessary to implement the proposed solution. These include new database structures, elaborate search algorithms, algorithmic data contextualization, and cryptographic entanglement. Combining techniques from a variety of fields yields an interesting challenge and promises to be source of meaningful innovation.

Funding

To implement the two above steps, a large amount of funding is needed. This Project is time intensive and requires full dedication of all collaborators. Correspondingly, paid positions must be established, covering the living costs of the team. Furthermore, technological equipment is crucial for the the tool’s extensive processing requirements and memory space.

The next step

The next step is the development of a concrete project plan and proposal. Furthermore, relevant experts will be consulted to get a more detailed list of the required expertise and possible risks. This will be make it easier to acquire the necessary funding and expertise. The funding could come from research institutes or the private sector. However, it needs to be ensured that full autonomy of the Project is granted to prevent corporate manipulation in Veritas’ quest to find the truth.

Wat heb je nodig om (nog meer) impact te maken met dit initiatief? / What do you need to make (more) impact with this initiative?

As described above, this initiative requires funding and collaborators. Accordingly, any support in finding the right people as well as funding possibilities would help tremendously. If you are interested to join the team or provide any connections to possible collaborators or funds, please do not hesitate to contact us!