Weaponizing Uncertainty: How Tech is Recycling Big Tobacco’s Playbook

One of the hardest parts about being human today is navigating
uncertainty. When we see experts battling in public and emotions
running high, it's easy to doubt what we once felt certain about.
This uncertainty isn't always accidental—it's often strategically
manufactured.


Historian Naomi Oreskes, author of "Merchants of Doubt," reveals
how industries from tobacco to fossil fuels have deployed a
calculated playbook to create uncertainty about their products'
harms. These campaigns have delayed regulation and protected
profits by exploiting how we process information.


In this episode, Oreskes breaks down that playbook page-by-page
while offering practical ways to build resistance against them.
As AI rapidly transforms our world, learning to distinguish
between genuine scientific uncertainty and manufactured doubt has
never been more critical.

Your Undivided Attention is produced by
the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on
Twitter: @HumaneTech_

RECOMMENDED MEDIA


“Merchants of Doubt” by Naomi Oreskes and Eric Conway 


"The Big Myth” by Naomi Oreskes and Eric Conway 


"Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson 


"The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair 


Further reading on the clash between Galileo and the Pope 


Further reading on the Montreal Protocol
 


RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES


Laughing at Power: A Troublemaker’s Guide to Changing
Tech 

AI Is Moving Fast. We Need Laws that Will Too. 

Tech's Big Money Campaign is Getting Pushback with Margaret
O'Mara and Brody Mullins
 
Former OpenAI Engineer William Saunders on Silence, Safety, and
the Right to Warn

CORRECTIONS:


Naomi incorrectly referenced Global Climate Research Program
established under President Bush Sr. The correct name is the U.S.
Global Change Research Program.

Naomi referenced U.S. agencies that have been created with
sunset clauses. While several statutes have been created with
sunset clauses, no federal agency has been.



CLARIFICATION: Naomi referenced the U.S.
automobile industry claiming that they would be “destroyed” by
seatbelt regulation. We couldn’t verify this specific language
but it is consistent with the anti-regulatory stance of that
industry toward seatbelt laws.