Virtual Library

Our research repositories present a collection of open-source resources that showcase research and analysis that has directly influenced our initiatives. Non-IST publications are copyrighted by external authors not affiliated with IST.

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Reports

Cyber Incident Reporting Framework: Global Edition

Cyber Threat Alliance, Institute for Security and Technology

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Reports

AI-NC3 Integration in an Adversarial Context: Strategic Stability Risks and Confidence Building Measures

Alexa Wehsener, Andrew W. Reddie, Leah Walker, Philip Reiner

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Op-ed

The Nuclear Risk Reduction Approach: A Useful Path Forward for Crisis Mitigation

Sylvia Mishra

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Reports

Nuclear Crisis Communications: Mapping Risk Reduction Implementation Pathways

Sylvia Mishra

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Reports

Towards a Stronger Ukrainian Media Ecosystem

Leah Walker, Alexa Wehsener, Natalia Antonova

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Op-ed

Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital must win over Silicon Valley

Leah Walker and Alexa Wehsener

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Fact Sheet

DOD Establishes the Office of Strategic Capital

Strategic Balancing Initiative

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We also welcome additional suggestions from readers, and will consider adding further resources as so much of our work has come through crowd-sourced collaboration already. If, for any chance you are an author whose work is listed here and you do not wish it to be listed in our repository, please, let us know.

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Shortcutting Critical Thinking

Leah Walker and Zoë Brammer

SUMMARY

What effects do digital technologies have on critical thinking? The DCDI coalition and IST researchers came to five major conclusions:

  1. The scale, accuracy, and speed of digital technologies make them particularly effective at activating the very emotions that influence and undermine critical thinking. Not only do digital technologies have the ability to inflame those emotions, but they often are designed to do so, as those very emotions drive engagement, use, and consumer spending.
  2. Digital technologies are affecting the cognitive processes that comprise critical thinking, including memory, attention, and reasoning.
  3. Digital technologies make it easier for people to confirm their existing beliefs, with little incentive to go through the often arduous processes of thinking critically. The most prolific online spaces are designed to validate beliefs, rather than challenge them. This constant reinforcement, in turn, makes people more confident in and vocal about their beliefs.
  4. Overconfidence in beliefs makes people more vulnerable to disinformation and less likely to take in contrary arguments. 
  1. Compounding the problem, there is little financial incentive for tech companies to design products that encourage people to think critically, especially if that involves helping people slow down by building friction into systems optimized for speed.
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