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The Art Of Conjuring Alternate Realities: How Information Warfare Shapes Your World
HOW DO POLITICIANS IN TODAY'S world attain power? How do nations become powerful? Why do human beings follow others unquestioningly, even if it is to their own detriment? What factors determine which politicians, nations and organizations will dominate the modern world?
Through much of human history, societal control was determined by militaristic strength. Individuals and tribes fought to control vital resources and land. In the next part of evolution marked by colonialism and the emergence of mega-corporations, money determined power. In the recent decade, the key to supremacy has shifted again. The power and control individuals, leaders and nations have is now determined by their ability to mould the information environment.
In The Art of Conjuring Alternate Realities, Shivam Shankar Singh and Anand Venkatanarayanan dive into the operations of political parties, cyber criminals, godmen, nation states and intelligence agencies from around the world to explain how the power to manipulate your thoughts is being harnessed, and how information warfare is shaping your life and world.
Through much of human history, societal control was determined by militaristic strength. Individuals and tribes fought to control vital resources and land. In the next part of evolution marked by colonialism and the emergence of mega-corporations, money determined power. In the recent decade, the key to supremacy has shifted again. The power and control individuals, leaders and nations have is now determined by their ability to mould the information environment.
In The Art of Conjuring Alternate Realities, Shivam Shankar Singh and Anand Venkatanarayanan dive into the operations of political parties, cyber criminals, godmen, nation states and intelligence agencies from around the world to explain how the power to manipulate your thoughts is being harnessed, and how information warfare is shaping your life and world.
292 pages, Hardcover
Published August 2, 2021
28 people are currently reading
240 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 9, 2021
4.5/5 As an asocial person with minimal presence in social media, I have often wondered why people - intelligent people too - do not double-check Whatsapp forwards or any information obtained from social media. Why do they keep persisting with their beliefs despite reason and facts ?
This book is like the recent superb documentary "The Social Dilemma". Since the most potent use of alternate reality is made by politicians, the book repeatedly explains its concepts wrt the political sphere. And examples from all over the world are used to explain the concepts. I just found the writing to be a little clumsy in a couple of places. Else, the book was amazing.
2 cents :-
1) The techniques are also used by a certain global religion very effectively. All criticism is labelled as phobia or the critics are simply eliminated leading to self-censorship.
2) "Holier-than-thou" left-liberals have their own echo-chambers and "information environments" (or "WokesAPP Universities"). They are less visible due to our focus on the right-wing which is much worse.
This was my second book by the (comparatively) less known author and both books have been v.good reads.
This book is like the recent superb documentary "The Social Dilemma". Since the most potent use of alternate reality is made by politicians, the book repeatedly explains its concepts wrt the political sphere. And examples from all over the world are used to explain the concepts. I just found the writing to be a little clumsy in a couple of places. Else, the book was amazing.
2 cents :-
1) The techniques are also used by a certain global religion very effectively. All criticism is labelled as phobia or the critics are simply eliminated leading to self-censorship.
2) "Holier-than-thou" left-liberals have their own echo-chambers and "information environments" (or "WokesAPP Universities"). They are less visible due to our focus on the right-wing which is much worse.
This was my second book by the (comparatively) less known author and both books have been v.good reads.
January 30, 2022
Conjurer, a term used for magicians who create illusion/alternative realities, is a term used frequently in this book. A very apt usage, the book talks about the information manipulation and alternative perspectives which the conjurer can manifest. Divided into 9 chapters, the book heavily delves on examples based approach, researching in deep many current affair topics like Trump elections, tactics of Ruling BJP, OTP scamsters, Aadhar project, Reddit GME short squeeze, Save the Internet campaign etc. A special mention to the mythological retelling of Viswamitra and Vasishta in first chapter, very well drives the points author wants to see. The need for institutional dominance is a gem of a chapter and an eye opener to people in modern real. An only critique of the book would be the very obvious bias towards the right wing which very evidently comes out in the book. Otherwise, it's an amazing/scary account of how information is being used as a weapon to conjure alternate realities for ulterior motives.
March 11, 2022
This is a timely and informative book. It explains how companies and powerful institutions like the government are nowadays engaged in a continuous campaign to shape how we perceive the world around us. While appealing to our "senses" this way is much better than controlling us through brute military force like in pre-modern times, it's possible for such efforts to have very deleterious effects when employed by authoritarian governments and other bad actors. To borrow some terminology from the book itself, after reading it your viewpoint on such operations will go from "clandestine" (where you're not even aware they exist), to "ambiguous" (where you can observe them but can't conclusively prove who's behind them). Even if you think you have a keen eye for misinformation campaigns around you, you'll be grateful to the authors for deep diving into the relevant research literature (which often straddles disciplines) and providing handy summaries and signposts for the rest of us.
Some notable techniques that emerge from this include:
1. The "ON3C" framework for an information campaign: You define the Objective, frame a suitable Narrative (or story), then understand the Context in which it will be executed, then come up with the specifics of the Campaign and the Content. The example used here to illustrate each step is how the BJP tried to consolidate Hindus as a vote bank by using the patently false notion of "love jihad".
2. Reflexive Control (RC): You get your adversary to voluntarily opt for the path that best suits your interest. This might require shaping their worldview to such an extent that alternatives other than the one you want them to take will seem less desirous. An example of RC is how China gambled that India will not publicly admit that they have foreign troops in their land, as it would make them lose face. This gamble had a good chance of succeeding because over the preceding years the Indian Prime Minister had made many public displays of bonhomie with his Chinese counterpart and would be loathe to admit it was all in vain! So in effect, they were able to get the Indian government to seriously downplay Chinese incursions.
For me, the most useful bits were the ON3C framework and the chapter with a careful exposition of how information "silos" are identified, infiltrated and gradually subverted for new purposes. I felt this mirrors how "special interests" and "lobbies" operate in the real world. Silos are an unavoidable consequence of the fractured media consumption landscape today, and when they're combined with "target audience analysis" (TAA), it's possible to craft not one - but many! - alternative realities for people in respective silos. The parts that didn't resonate with me were lengthy explanations connecting certain Indian myths and fables to the notion of conjuring alternative realities. They seemed a bit far-fetched. In any case, you don't lose much by not taking these bits seriously.
The book isn't restricted to shady political operators though, and talks of other kinds of scamsters as well - OTP hackers, pickpockets and the good old conman/trickster types. But the overwhelming emphasis is on politics. In fact, the second half of the book goes deep into the making and workings of an authoritarian state and potential ways it can implode. Again, India's BJP and its Central government serve as a running example and convenient punching bags. It’s arguable whether such level of detail was required in this book. These bits might be particularly hard to stomach for people who still remain invested in that party!
How do you counter a false reality or narrative that's already in progress? The book offers precious little hope here. Its sombre advice is to ignore that narrative and craft a new, completely orthogonal narrative that can take precedence in people's mind over the first one. Well, at least one should appreciate the authors for their honesty. Developing a faux methodology and making us pin our hopes on it would pretty much defeat the whole purpose of this book!
Overall, this book can be a valuable introduction to the bewildering world of information wars in which we are already unwitting, unwilling pawns.
Some notable techniques that emerge from this include:
1. The "ON3C" framework for an information campaign: You define the Objective, frame a suitable Narrative (or story), then understand the Context in which it will be executed, then come up with the specifics of the Campaign and the Content. The example used here to illustrate each step is how the BJP tried to consolidate Hindus as a vote bank by using the patently false notion of "love jihad".
2. Reflexive Control (RC): You get your adversary to voluntarily opt for the path that best suits your interest. This might require shaping their worldview to such an extent that alternatives other than the one you want them to take will seem less desirous. An example of RC is how China gambled that India will not publicly admit that they have foreign troops in their land, as it would make them lose face. This gamble had a good chance of succeeding because over the preceding years the Indian Prime Minister had made many public displays of bonhomie with his Chinese counterpart and would be loathe to admit it was all in vain! So in effect, they were able to get the Indian government to seriously downplay Chinese incursions.
For me, the most useful bits were the ON3C framework and the chapter with a careful exposition of how information "silos" are identified, infiltrated and gradually subverted for new purposes. I felt this mirrors how "special interests" and "lobbies" operate in the real world. Silos are an unavoidable consequence of the fractured media consumption landscape today, and when they're combined with "target audience analysis" (TAA), it's possible to craft not one - but many! - alternative realities for people in respective silos. The parts that didn't resonate with me were lengthy explanations connecting certain Indian myths and fables to the notion of conjuring alternative realities. They seemed a bit far-fetched. In any case, you don't lose much by not taking these bits seriously.
The book isn't restricted to shady political operators though, and talks of other kinds of scamsters as well - OTP hackers, pickpockets and the good old conman/trickster types. But the overwhelming emphasis is on politics. In fact, the second half of the book goes deep into the making and workings of an authoritarian state and potential ways it can implode. Again, India's BJP and its Central government serve as a running example and convenient punching bags. It’s arguable whether such level of detail was required in this book. These bits might be particularly hard to stomach for people who still remain invested in that party!
How do you counter a false reality or narrative that's already in progress? The book offers precious little hope here. Its sombre advice is to ignore that narrative and craft a new, completely orthogonal narrative that can take precedence in people's mind over the first one. Well, at least one should appreciate the authors for their honesty. Developing a faux methodology and making us pin our hopes on it would pretty much defeat the whole purpose of this book!
Overall, this book can be a valuable introduction to the bewildering world of information wars in which we are already unwitting, unwilling pawns.
October 22, 2021
Frightening stuff, and a must-read. As a professional who works to address misinformation, it wasn't like I didn't know the stuff in this book, but it was very well put together. I learnt a few things.
December 26, 2021
Would've loved it more if it provided more footnotes.
April 20, 2023
The all-pervasive and omniscient social media presence make one curious to go for some explainer to understand the working of this powerful medium. The title “The Art of Conjuring Alternate Realities” naturally attracts one’s attention. Having read Shivam Shankar Singh’s earlier work “How to win An Indian Election”, this book from its title appeared promising. Early on the authors declare that since your entire world is shaped by the information you come across, you are in essence, the information you consume. This is understandable as you cannot be present at all places at all times to get the information firsthand. They go on to develop and explain the process by which access to our minds is achieved to create an alternate reality that we believe in by exploiting vulnerabilities in our thinking processes. In some ways, they appeared to be theories used in marketing where a lot of psychoanalysis goes into the advertisement to evoke an emotional response from the target audience. Briefly to create an alternate reality a four-step process is presented - Have an objective, create a narrative, contextualize by finding an existing belief system to tie into the narrative created, come up with a campaign, and finally come up with a specific instance to prove the campaign. They explain how this process is adapted for developing the Love-Jihad campaign. However, creating an information environment is essential before targeting the group. It essentially involves constantly repeating and insulating the target from extraneous factual information. Once a belief is embedded we hold on to it and defend it lest we are considered vulnerable to wrong beliefs. So, the conjurer of an alternate reality has to see to that that no contradictory information should be allowed before the belief is consolidated.
On completing the book, however, one wonders whether creating alternate competitive realities is the real issue. The political history of humanity is all about creating these realities and convincing people to believe in them. For every reality, there will be an alternate reality. And people take to that reality which is close to their belief system and which is aligned with their perceived incentives. There is nothing like a universally accepted reality. Depending on the time and context one or the other will be dominant and hence powerful.
Politics by definition is all about presenting competing alternate realities with all good intentions. In that sense conjuring alternate realities may not in itself be wrong. But what is of concern, as rightly pointed out by the authors, is the tendency of the state to capture institutions and suppress freedoms preventing the polity to evaluate the promised reality and allowing them to conjure and propagate another one. The issue is not about creating realities but it is about not being answerable for the promises made. In a democracy, people choose any dispensation consistent with their incentives. But the institutions shall ensure freedom for people to question the outcomes. This can happen only when we are free to conjure alternate realities. So, the takeaway from this book is to fight for freedom and liberty in every sense of the word and preserve the institutions which will keep democracy alive. Once they are in place one need not have to worry about alternate realities.
In the last chapter, the authors present some of the sensational alternate realities conjured to contest the existing realities like the Save the Internet movement, the Korean pop band breaking Donald Trump’s Rally, the partially successful Aadhar Challenge, and the farmer’s protest in India against Farm laws. While these movements nicely bring home the author’s perspective, it is only a part of the story.
Just imagine how this book reads if the authors were to be Harsh Madhusudhan and Rajeev Mantri of “The New Idea of India” fame. It is possible that they may keep the major portion of the book the same except the alternate realities they choose to conjure and present may be quite different!
Good read!
On completing the book, however, one wonders whether creating alternate competitive realities is the real issue. The political history of humanity is all about creating these realities and convincing people to believe in them. For every reality, there will be an alternate reality. And people take to that reality which is close to their belief system and which is aligned with their perceived incentives. There is nothing like a universally accepted reality. Depending on the time and context one or the other will be dominant and hence powerful.
Politics by definition is all about presenting competing alternate realities with all good intentions. In that sense conjuring alternate realities may not in itself be wrong. But what is of concern, as rightly pointed out by the authors, is the tendency of the state to capture institutions and suppress freedoms preventing the polity to evaluate the promised reality and allowing them to conjure and propagate another one. The issue is not about creating realities but it is about not being answerable for the promises made. In a democracy, people choose any dispensation consistent with their incentives. But the institutions shall ensure freedom for people to question the outcomes. This can happen only when we are free to conjure alternate realities. So, the takeaway from this book is to fight for freedom and liberty in every sense of the word and preserve the institutions which will keep democracy alive. Once they are in place one need not have to worry about alternate realities.
In the last chapter, the authors present some of the sensational alternate realities conjured to contest the existing realities like the Save the Internet movement, the Korean pop band breaking Donald Trump’s Rally, the partially successful Aadhar Challenge, and the farmer’s protest in India against Farm laws. While these movements nicely bring home the author’s perspective, it is only a part of the story.
Just imagine how this book reads if the authors were to be Harsh Madhusudhan and Rajeev Mantri of “The New Idea of India” fame. It is possible that they may keep the major portion of the book the same except the alternate realities they choose to conjure and present may be quite different!
Good read!
August 11, 2021
At the core, this is a book about how we as individuals and as a society build and interpret our reality and how this process gets influenced by groups with political, commercial, ideological, and spiritual agendas. We are living in a world of information warfare where media is the weapon of choice for these special interest groups. Media has been weaponized and aimed at us. The author did an excellent job of explaining what are the levers for this weapon and how it deployed. As someone who has lived through the Indian election of Modi, US election of Trump, Brexit, BLM, etc it's hard to deny the premise of the book. Reading it is like reading about the Oppenheimer project in the middle of world war 2. It gives you a meta-perspective not only on what's happening but also on the why and how an aspect of the events.
The authors have done an excellent job of simplifying the idea with our dumbing them down. They referenced contemporary events to explain their point. events like US-Russia conflict over Election, farmer’s agitation in India, Rise of Cyber scammer, Proliferation of WHATSAPP Group, BJP’s Landslide election win in 2014, Aaadhar card, Demonetization, Save the internet campaign, etc. I knew the “What” of these events..this book explained the “Why” and “How” parts. Looking at these events from a deeper level of abstraction was fascinating.
Why part covers the need for abstraction and narrative for coordination and mass mobilization
How parts cover the specific techniques used in information warfare and propaganda. Techniques like the theory of Reflexive Control, ‘understanding the filter’, sniper targeting’, Target Audience Analysis (TAA), etc its was fascinating to see how systemic and well defined is this machinery is . The word propaganda has a brute force feel to it. But it's anything but brute force. This book explains how
As information technology gets deeply woven into the fabric of life and society. it's hard to escape and isolate ourselves from information warfare. What we can do is to face it in a more aware and informed manner. A bit like the nutrition impact of food. One way to have healthy food is to campaign against junk food retail ( McDonald of the world ) other is to watch what you eat and understand the impact of it . This book is a good introduction to both of these approaches.
Recommended !!
The authors have done an excellent job of simplifying the idea with our dumbing them down. They referenced contemporary events to explain their point. events like US-Russia conflict over Election, farmer’s agitation in India, Rise of Cyber scammer, Proliferation of WHATSAPP Group, BJP’s Landslide election win in 2014, Aaadhar card, Demonetization, Save the internet campaign, etc. I knew the “What” of these events..this book explained the “Why” and “How” parts. Looking at these events from a deeper level of abstraction was fascinating.
Why part covers the need for abstraction and narrative for coordination and mass mobilization
How parts cover the specific techniques used in information warfare and propaganda. Techniques like the theory of Reflexive Control, ‘understanding the filter’, sniper targeting’, Target Audience Analysis (TAA), etc its was fascinating to see how systemic and well defined is this machinery is . The word propaganda has a brute force feel to it. But it's anything but brute force. This book explains how
As information technology gets deeply woven into the fabric of life and society. it's hard to escape and isolate ourselves from information warfare. What we can do is to face it in a more aware and informed manner. A bit like the nutrition impact of food. One way to have healthy food is to campaign against junk food retail ( McDonald of the world ) other is to watch what you eat and understand the impact of it . This book is a good introduction to both of these approaches.
Recommended !!
August 7, 2021
I can’t believe how much of the current world events are explained by the concept that this book is based on: the source of power in the modern world is shaping people’s thoughts, and the way to do that is to control the information that they get to see.
The book uses stories from religion, cyber criminals, intelligence agencies, politics and geopolitics to explain complex information warfare concepts and to demonstrate how the war for thought control is shaping our lives. It starts out with stories that illustrate inherent human biases that get exploited and transitions to complex concepts seamlessly, making it a very enjoyable read. What’s truly exceptional is that the authors don’t just outline what’s happening, they explain how “reality” can be preserved and those trying to conjure alternate realities for nefarious purposes can be countered.
Just some of the things that make more sense after reading the book:
1 - Why politicians lie, even when the truth is obvious.
2 - Why a war between Social Media giants and Governments is inevitable.
3 - How people get scammed or recruited into cults, and why it’s not just the type of people you’d expect.
4 - How intelligence agencies function, and why the fight between China and the US will largely be waged in cyber and information space.
5 - Why society today is more polarised than ever, why that makes it fragile, and what can be done to bring it back.
6 - Why politicians see institutions as enemies and work to weaken them.
7 - Why we now continuously fight about what facts are true instead of discussing what’s the better course of action.
8 - Why cyber and information space are key pillars of national security, and why domestic politics can be a major threat to national security.
And many more…
The book is essential reading for those trying to make sense of the world, and for those trying to make themselves less vulnerable to psychological manipulation, or honestly even those trying to manipulate others. It is in essence a guide to acquiring power over others by controlling the reality that someone lives in. Highly recommended read.
The book uses stories from religion, cyber criminals, intelligence agencies, politics and geopolitics to explain complex information warfare concepts and to demonstrate how the war for thought control is shaping our lives. It starts out with stories that illustrate inherent human biases that get exploited and transitions to complex concepts seamlessly, making it a very enjoyable read. What’s truly exceptional is that the authors don’t just outline what’s happening, they explain how “reality” can be preserved and those trying to conjure alternate realities for nefarious purposes can be countered.
Just some of the things that make more sense after reading the book:
1 - Why politicians lie, even when the truth is obvious.
2 - Why a war between Social Media giants and Governments is inevitable.
3 - How people get scammed or recruited into cults, and why it’s not just the type of people you’d expect.
4 - How intelligence agencies function, and why the fight between China and the US will largely be waged in cyber and information space.
5 - Why society today is more polarised than ever, why that makes it fragile, and what can be done to bring it back.
6 - Why politicians see institutions as enemies and work to weaken them.
7 - Why we now continuously fight about what facts are true instead of discussing what’s the better course of action.
8 - Why cyber and information space are key pillars of national security, and why domestic politics can be a major threat to national security.
And many more…
The book is essential reading for those trying to make sense of the world, and for those trying to make themselves less vulnerable to psychological manipulation, or honestly even those trying to manipulate others. It is in essence a guide to acquiring power over others by controlling the reality that someone lives in. Highly recommended read.
August 20, 2021
Extraordinarily written and upholds the reality of the present digital world.
Social media is actually taking you away far from reality. This book describes in great detail about the darker and negative aspects of digital world. Everything you see in social media is not real. Most of the influencers have ulterior motives. Nothing is free. If you are not paying for the product, then you're the product. The intellect of human being is reducing as more and more they are consuming and relying on third grade, half-baked information coming from Facebook, YouTube political channels of IT cell, and others.
The politicians and the propaganda through the social media is actually a making a mess out of your head. You'll not be able to know when you've turned into an asshole. You are loosing your free will to be what you are actually. And most importantly social media is undermining the truth.
How all these things happen is well explained by the author in a very pragmatic sense. I'm very happy that the author took a very realistic and practical and pragmatic approach rather than an idealistic one.
Social media is actually taking you away far from reality. This book describes in great detail about the darker and negative aspects of digital world. Everything you see in social media is not real. Most of the influencers have ulterior motives. Nothing is free. If you are not paying for the product, then you're the product. The intellect of human being is reducing as more and more they are consuming and relying on third grade, half-baked information coming from Facebook, YouTube political channels of IT cell, and others.
The politicians and the propaganda through the social media is actually a making a mess out of your head. You'll not be able to know when you've turned into an asshole. You are loosing your free will to be what you are actually. And most importantly social media is undermining the truth.
How all these things happen is well explained by the author in a very pragmatic sense. I'm very happy that the author took a very realistic and practical and pragmatic approach rather than an idealistic one.
July 4, 2022
Often, i wondered how is this book not shaping my information environment. At some points, it seemed anti- establishment book. At other points it felt like I have known information war and it's tenants all along and that there is some elements of truth in it.
History is repelete with warfare of propaganda and academicians have been studying these for decades but it still it doesn't leave us any better in tackling the truckloads of conflicting information/news we get everyday.
The funda is "meri story, tumhari story and then there is truth somewhere in the middle".
History is repelete with warfare of propaganda and academicians have been studying these for decades but it still it doesn't leave us any better in tackling the truckloads of conflicting information/news we get everyday.
The funda is "meri story, tumhari story and then there is truth somewhere in the middle".
March 12, 2022
It’s an amazing read. Once you read the initial chapters, it really starts occurring to you as what happening with your information world. The examples considered, the root causes and the story telling is quite riveting. Would highly recommend reading this book.
September 10, 2022
A very interesting book, intelligently written and making clear so many misconceptions and fallacies that we have been seeing recently. It is so easy to manipulate our senses and make us look towards what the 'conjurors' want us to see.
September 1, 2021
Must read this, one of the best edition with a wide understanding! It's a Lovely book and is also very informative. Well satisfied with the product! Worth the money! 👌🏻👏🏻
Read
September 2, 2021Wonderful Book..
I request the reading lover's not to miss reading it
I request the reading lover's not to miss reading it
September 28, 2021
Although informative sometimes seems like the book itself is part of some information war against the BJP
May 29, 2022
Fantastic book that lays out the model used by conjurers in influencing entire populations. Relevant to the times we live in, especially in India.
December 3, 2022
Eye opening book on information warfare. Authors could have added more examples and improved it.
October 14, 2021
Absolutely brilliant and in depth analysis of present day situation. In a period where each one is exposed more to the virtual world through his smartphone than the real one near him, the modern day conjurors like politicians, businessmen and social media giants like fb-whatsapp-insta are literally creating a false world around us through data manipulation. The authors have brilliantly exposed the reality behind this altered world by citing various examples, ground realities and real world incidents. A must read for every citizen who use internet and smartphone apps..
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews