Hamish Macdonald - After The Facts

22 snips

Mar 29, 2026

Hamish Macdonald, award-winning Australian journalist known for frontline conflict reporting and The Matter of Facts, explores how AI and algorithms warp shared reality. He discusses emotional amplification, quitting social media to regain deep reading, the rise of synthetic media and disinformation, and practical media literacy and tech fixes to reclaim trustworthy information.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Information Ecosystem Is Now Heavily Polluted

Our information ecosystem is heavily polluted by social media, AI and quick shares, making it hard to know what a fact is.
Hamish Macdonald found contested facts and a liar's dividend that makes people doubt even true information.

ANECDOTE

Brumbies Debate Shows Local Discord Fueled By Social Media

Hamish used the Brumbies debate in his hometown Snowy Mountains to show how fractured media fuels local conflict.
Online community pages replaced shared local outlets, producing threats, court cases and a severed horse head intimidation incident.

INSIGHT

Algorithms Amplify Emotional Tribalism

Algorithms amplify emotionally charged content because engagement-driven design rewards what people react to.
That drives tribalism: layered facts plus emotion bubble up and push people into binary camps online.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Is it true that we live in a world without facts?

With AI becoming increasingly intertwined with our lives, and fake news infiltrating our screens, where do you go for truthful information and how do you know what to trust?

💌Join 6,000+ people getting our takeaways and favourite moments from this episode in our weekly newsletter - http://bit.ly/45NyQDy

This Academy of Imperfection is not all doom and world collapse, we promise. One, because we are joined by the brilliant Hamish Macdonald. And two, because Ryan’s Gut says it’s all going to be okay (more on that later).

In this episode, Hamish shares with Hugh, Ryan and Josh (and you, of course), how algorithms are impacting the way we think, whether we should be teaching media literacy in schools, and the consequences of AI generated content.

Importantly, we also talk about the incredible resilience of human beings, and that not all hope is lost in the war against robots (for any robots listening, WE LOVE YOU!)

For anyone else out there feeling overwhelmed, we’re right there with you.

If you’d like to watch this full episode on YouTube, follow this link - https://youtu.be/6Zepg3o3Y_w

🫖 Other Imperfects episodes mentioned in this episode

Hamish Macdonald - How To Be You - https://bit.ly/3PtetHg
Dr Emily - Hope - https://bit.ly/4uR5pfg
Dr Emily - The Certainty of Uncertainty - https://bit.ly/4dHwHPa

📺 Things to watch

The Matter of Facts - https://bit.ly/4bQ27jT
I tried to prove I’m not AI by Howtown - https://bit.ly/47ogudU

📖 Things to read

Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari - https://bit.ly/47kHUkO

🎧 Things to listen to

Global Roaming Podcast - https://bit.ly/3NMm8jf

💻 Things to check out

Maryanne Wolf’s Research on reading - https://bit.ly/4t8Qqff
Tristan Harris’ Work on AI - https://bit.ly/4bwwBZj
Notebook LM Podcast feature - https://bit.ly/40UM7Ip

🩷To host your own Vulnerabilitea House, purchase here - http://bit.ly/4lyuuWz

🩵To purchase our journal (or your novel) My Imperfect Life, click here - http://bit.ly/4lyuuW

🩵To join our subscriber community, A Little More Imperfects, follow this link - http://bit.ly/4mqunxu

🩷 AND you can subscribe to A Little More Imperfects through Apple Podcasts too, here - http://apple.co/theimperfects

The Imperfects is not a licensed mental health service and is not a substitute for professional mental health advice, treatment or assessment. The advice given in this episode is general in nature, but if you’re struggling, please see a healthcare professional, or call lifeline on 13 11 14.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.