Three things worry me about the development of organisations like Cambridge Analytica, that seek to influence/brainwash voters by using extreme or false political messages that trigger their deepest fears or "inner demons".
The first is that facts have become feelings. The evidence shows that Cambridge Analytica is right is saying elections are won on emotions, not facts. During the campaign I remember one Republican being pulled up in an interview because he was quoting false statistics about the rate of immigrant crime. He replied that he "felt they were facts". Nowadays we are all more tribal, which makes us tend to ignore objective, proven facts that disprove our prejudices, and believe unverified or blatantly false "facts" that support them.
The second is how the control of information makes rational debate impossible. Steve Bannon stated that this is the key - controlling the information that people consume. Nowadays the US is a divide. On one side is Fox, NewsCorp, NYPost, Wa Examiner, Breitbart, InfoWars, RT, ZeroHedge, Stormfront and a host of conservative "news sites" that are pure advocacy or clickbait. On the other is NYT, CNN, WaPo, MSNBC, Huff Post, Vox, etc. If you don't check out both sides then you are shocked by what the other side believes as confirmed truth. For instance, there are people here that literally believe Hillary Clinton and Podesta ran a paedophile sex network out of a pizza parlour, and are shocked that I think them barking mad. In their media ecosystem, they have seen hundreds of reports that "prove" it.
The third is that with the effect of the first two points, our ability to debate, negotiate and come to a consensus or compromise is diminished. Without informed citizens having informed debate and coming to an agreement that all sides can live with, democracy will fail and authoritarian governments will rise.
And if the 20th century has taught us anything, it is that once authoritarian governments are in power, people die. Millions of them.
