David Smith is interviewed by New York Times on Twitter lies

David Livingstone Smith, Ph.D., associate professor of philosophy, was quoted at length in a Nov. 5, 2012 New York Times Bits column by Nick Bilton on the topic of lies posted on Twitter during and in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Smith, the author of Why We Lie: The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind, explained that “in the past, confirmation as well as disconfirmation took a long time to verify.' Now, just as information spreads quickly, inaccuracies are corrected with the same swiftness. There is also more accountability today, as a digital record can now be tied to the creator of falsehoods as they unfurl. Read the column.

Smith was recently named winner of the Cleveland Foundation's 77th Annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Nonfiction for his book Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave, and Exterminate Others. Smith has discussed Less than Human on NPR's Talk of the Nation and other media outlets. More

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.