Sci-Bi: an infodemic of disorientation

Recent years have seen the emergence of two particular challenges to scientific knowledge and application. In both instances, communication design may be underperforming in its potential for contribution: 1. The exponential rise of social media has potentiated an equally exponential range of phenomena such as fake news, pseudo-science and superstition; as seductive, de-centralised, continuously reconfiguring webs, their longevity and adaptability far surpass that of rigorous knowledge. 2. The pandemic and corresponding public policies (confinement and vaccination in particular) seem to have further eroded the already precarious, aforementioned scenario. A range of misinformation channels and content have reached significant sectors of the population, just as media portrayal of the health crisis was largely reduced to statistical extrapolations, and a largely hermetic, prescriptive discourse often lacking in accessibility. Despite current decreases in pandemic levels, issues of mistrust remain and will likely retain an impact in future instances, health-related or otherwise. The above issues have been addressed both through increased technological sophistication of digital tools, and the adoption of logical discourse; however, both seem to have fallen short in tackling the scale and complexity of the phenomena of misinformation.