The Law of Similarity

Before the advent of multimedia and images, this was a Good Enough way of getting through life. If it looked like good food, you could eat it. If it looked like a dangerous animal, you should run. But in a world of deepfakes, AI-generated imagery, and sophisticated visual Disinfolklore, the Law of Similarity becomes a vulnerability rather than a survival advantage.

Source: Ways of Seeing

The Law of Similarity: if something LOOKS like something, we treat it as that thing. An ancient survival heuristic made dangerous by digital media. Putin’s bare chest = strong leader. ‘Antifa’ sounds like a real organisation so it IS one in formal government documents. Deepfakes exploit this law at industrial scale.

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