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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Rewired: How digital technologies shape cognition and democracy

Leah Walker

SUMMARY

This analytical report takes an escalating three-tiered approach: examining how effects of digital technologies on cognitive processes then affect the individual and society. At Tier 1, the most basic cognitive level, we hone in on the processes of memory, attention, and reasoning. At Tier 2, taking into consideration the combinatorial implications for individuals, we focus on critical thinking, trust, and emotions. Finally, at Tier 3, the analysis delves into how these insights drive societal-level issues, namely the susceptibility to disinformation and affective polarization. We attribute these negative effects to two forms of digital technologies: 1) those that affect and manipulate cognition, and 2) those that outsource cognitive functions.

To develop a model for understanding these effects, we propose a Framework on Techno-Cognitive Risks that identifies the precise elements of digital technologies that may lead to areas of concern or vulnerability from the fundamental cognitive level up to the societal level. This framework identifies 12 risks that emerge from 4 main features of technology in our increasingly digital world: 1) Design and Gamification; 2) Unnaturally Immersive and Easy Experience; 3) Lack of Friction; and 4) Information Overload. It is through the identification of these specific risks within these technology-driven domains that focused efforts can work to mitigate the threats to democracy we see today.

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