|Talks|

The Information Animal and the Competition for Reality

Misinformation Speaker Series
Virtual
Past Talk
Alicia Wanless
Director of Information Environment Project, the Carnegie Endowment
Feb 4, 2026
12:00 pm
EST
Feb 4, 2026
12:00 pm
In-person
Portsoken Street
London, E1 8PH, UK
The Roux Institute
Room
100 Fore Street
Portland, ME 04101
Network Science Institute
2nd floor
Network Science Institute
11th floor
177 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA 02115
Network Science Institute
2nd floor
Room
58 St Katharine's Way
London E1W 1LP, UK
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Talk recording

Humans have always engaged in information competition throughout history. In so doing, they adopt new technologies, try to control the flow of information, and compete to win hearts and minds by flooding the information ecosystem with their point of view, sometimes slipping into open conflict. But what if these competitions for reality follow a pattern? What can looking beyond the competition to the information ecosystem in which it occurs tell us about mitigating escalating conflict? This talk looks beyond the latest technology or disinformation to examine the wider system and how studying it might unlock solutions to problems within it.
About the speaker
Dr. Alicia Wanless is the director of the Information Environment Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which aims to foster evidence-based policymaking. Alicia is the author of The Information Animal: Humans, Technology and the Competition for Reality. Alicia was a technical advisor to Aspen Institute’s Commission on Information Disorder and is a founding member of its Global Cybersecurity Group. Alicia is a visiting researcher at the Institute for Digital Security and Behaviour in the University of Bath's School of Management. At King’s College London in War Studies, she completed her PhD combining strategic theory and ecology in a new approach to understanding conflict within the information environment.
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Feb 04, 2026