Have you ever thought about how narratives define your life: religious, political, financial, and personal (social media posts)? What triggers you to create or share a photo or post; or, write a reply on a social post or “Like” or heart emoji a photo? Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X, and even email, capitalize on human psychology by offering instant gratification through the dopamine surges that we experience from responding to likes and notifications. Aldous Huxley’s 1932, Brave New World reads prophetic about the reflexive distraction and ultimately controlled thought through pleasure. Huxley’s vision displays a world where the things we love have the power to destroy us. The gateway of destruction is shown through an appeal to pleasure, where participants drown in an ocean of trivialness.
A robust response to these new security threats embedded in narratives from abroad and at home has now been launched. U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, in conjunction with the University of Mississippi, and EdgeTheory, have created a synergistic initiative. The National Center of Narrative Intelligence launched in early 2024. The inaugural summit was held on the campus of Ole Miss in Oxford. An impressive cadre of experts and speakers from various domains, including military, political, corporate, media, and academia offered keen insights of this emerging area. Speakers during the NCNI Summit included Senator Wicker, Jim Barksdale (Netscape, FedEx), William Crowell (former Deputy Director of the NSA), Lieutenant General Charles Cleveland, Glenn Boyce (Ole Miss Chancellor), and Joe Stradinger (EdgeTheory).
Since the dawn of time, the human domain is ripe for influence. We are social creatures that are swayed by our emotions. The speeches given by Brutus and Marc Antony in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar captured the essence that logic alone cannot move people to action, rather it requires stirring up emotions as a catalyst of action. Now the scene shifts into the realm of what was in the last century, science fiction. Today’s algorithms and artificial intelligence wield power through subconsciously influencing an individual’s emotions.
Bestselling author, Nickolas Carr’s The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to our Brains, looks at the ways our brains, because of neuroplasticity, are actually being re-programmed by the technology itself. Influence or suggestion is imperceptible, like an invisible hand that can gently channel our actions. Harnessing the power of the technology and using the logic of the existing algorithms creates the ultimate in marketing or covert operations. When the algorithms are applied politically, they can steer us into echo chambers which sow discord and may prompt unrest.
Algorithms are binary, a series of 1s or 0s. “Either or” is the basis for decisions, so they are particularly good at making us choose ‘either’ ‘or’. This choice architecture can create an ‘us vs. them’ about nearly everything. Nuance is lost.
The subtlety of the algorithms steer us and we are freely (and unknowingly) following. In the digital age, narratives are propagated and evolve through social media. These narratives are blended ingredients, a mix of the personal, religious, political, and news. The world has never been filled with more noise. A new front, narrative intelligence, is opening up to help us locate the signal(s) in the noise. Important questions for our time are: who (or what entity) is behind the stories that appear in our social media feed and what are the intentions of those behind the stories? Narrative intelligence is the multidisciplinary study of the stories that carry meaning, purpose, themes, and goals in a process to influence others.
The world is at a crossroads between the analog and digital. Much like the prior ‘nothing will be the same after this’ moments in history (the printing press, the industrial revolution, 9/11), we live at the hinge of seismic changes ushered in by a revolution in technology. Technology itself is positive, but how we choose to use it is neutral. It is a tool that can be harnessed for positive ends or used subversively or destructively. Immersive technology, artificial intelligence, and microchip implantations into our bodies offer promising opportunities and frightful possibilities.
Yet, the long story of humans is one of progress and sameness. Ancient books and today’s news headlines remind us that humans are fundamentally the same across the millennia. Narratives are unique to the human condition; they influence, move, and define us.
Two lines from T.S. Elliot’s 1934 poem, The Rock, seemed more relevant. “Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?” The unique challenge of today’s narratives is understanding through context and knowing what is true and what is real. This new challenge is one of our most pressing concerns, touching geopolitical relations, national and local affairs. The rise of ChatGPT, artificial intelligence, and deep fakes pose new method threats.
In early 2024, according to CNN, a multinational finance firm was the victim of an AI deepfake. Through a video call, fraudsters made their faces and voices appear as existing and known colleagues, which allayed concerns. The deepfake cost the Hong Kong firm $25 million, when it wired the fraudsters.
While the power of technological changes offer many benefits, they also possess a potentially corruptive power that needs to be evaluated, monitored, and understood. Coordinating the influences of academia, private business and the U.S. military has been a cornerstone of past successes in the US’s ability to combat new threats. Today, new threats include the use of narratives through social media. As new threats are identified, new solutions are required.
Humanity is faced with a fresh challenge from the rising technology’s ability to exploit subconsciousness and our emotions. During the NCNI summit, the former director of the national security agency, William Crowell, said “the biggest challenge of the 21st century is knowing what is real.”
Roman poet Juvenal’s second century question again finds relevance, “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” Who will watch the watchers, or who will guard the guardians, especially in a world where narratives can literally influence and shape our minds? For now, there is a new guardian of the guard, the National Center for Narrative Intelligence. This new effort will be on the front lines providing narrative intelligence that will help us understand sources, not just stories and remind us that sources are often the story.
