U of A prof dives into the illusion of misinformation in new book

We have access to all of human knowledge on our phones, but as Timothy Caulfield explains, that might not be a good thing.

Timothy Caulfield takes a deep dive into misinformation and our confusing, endless stream of data in his new book, The Certainty Illusion: What You Don’t Know and Why It Matters.

This includes a closer look at “predatory journals,” which Caulfield told CTV News have “very low standards for publication.”

“Some individuals, say anti-vaxxers, will publish in these journals to make their work seem legitimate, and, you know, the sad thing is it makes it more difficult for all of us, including academics, to cut through the noise because our information environment is becoming polluted with all this nonsense,” Caulfield says.

In The Certainty Illusion, Caulfield, a professor in the Faculty of Law and School of Public Health at the University of Alberta, examines everything from Gwyneth Paltrow’s products to gluten-free diets and pet food to online restaurant ratings.

-Watch the full interview with Caulfield in the video player above

Many of these concepts tout what he calls “health halos,” buzzwords like organic, natural, locally grown and non-GMO.

“These are phrases that are used to simplify our decision-making, even though the science is much more complicated than that health halo would invite us to believe,” he said.