Chesley Bonestell, “The Exploration of Mars” (1953), oil on board, 143/8 x 28 inches, gift of William Estler, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Reproduced courtesy of Bonestell LLC.

US Charges Russians with Political Interference

February 20, 2018

2/20/18 – In Issues recently, a scholar who studies the ethical and social dimensions of emerging technologies laid out the ways that nations and groups can use “weaponized narratives” to undermine the common values and beliefs of their adversaries. Now, the concept has struck home, with the US Justice Department indicting a group of Russian individuals and companies for conducting a long-running internet scheme to criminally interfere with the 2016 presidential election, and details emerging about how the “troll factory” seamlessly insinuated its workers into the US political conversation.