Natural stupidity

Renato Marques

We live in an extraordinary moment of paradox. On the one hand, never in human history has information been so abundant, so accessible, and so rapidly disseminated.

Yet never has it seemed so difficult to distinguish truth from falsehood, knowledge from ignorance, and credible information from fabricated narratives.

The internet was once celebrated as the gateway to an information society, promising a world where knowledge would empower citizens, strengthen democracy, foster intellectual progress, and bring humanity closer to the truth. But is this really happening?

Fueled by the misuse of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, the proliferation of fake news, the manipulation of digital platforms, and the growing influence of individuals who confuse personal opinions with facts, misinformation spreads daily.

In the end, the question is – when did we stop building an information society and start sleepwalking into a disinformation society?

The distinction is not merely semantic. It concerns the intellectual foundations of our civilization. When everyone becomes an expert (or is presented as one), truth becomes a victim of the lie’s broader reach.

Misinformation, whether intentional or accidental, is harmful, and that should concern all of us.

It is not about controlling freedom of expression or creation; it is about recognizing that some forms of expression and creation can easily lack intellectual responsibility.

We increasingly encounter publications, or even products, that show an uncanny inability to conduct research, verify facts, or understand much of the subjects they discuss or try to sell.

Recently, I saw an advertisement from a local sports goods chain that “designed” a T-shirt alluding to the Macau Grand Prix.

My first thought was, “Great, finally Macau’s larger-scale and higher-impact international event is prompting local companies to partner with multinational companies and brands in sporting goods to produce GP-related merchandise.”

But a closer look made me immediately swallow those joyful thoughts like a bitter pill. It was absolutely wrong! The merchandising features, in large print, an outline of a racing circuit that bears no resemblance to the historic (73-year-old) Guia Circuit of Macau. And the worst part – nobody seems to care.

The chain store ignored this fact. Even the multinational brand involved in the alleged partnership seems to care nothing about the huge mistake that spreads misinformation.

How can we let this happen? How can we ignore something that should make all Macau citizens proud?

How hard was it to put the real Guia Circuit outline on the T-shirt instead of an imaginary layout that, as far as I could tell, doesn’t even exist (luckily)?

For motorsports fans (potential clients of such a product), the layouts are the fingerprints of each track. They are landmarks and monuments.

I can guarantee that no race fan doesn’t recognize the layout of, for example, Monza Circuit in Italy, Nürburgring in Germany, Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, or Suzuka in Japan, to name a few.

And we? We lost yet another opportunity to showcase our Macau Guia Circuit, and it was entirely self-inflicted.

I am unsure whether an “AI creation” was truly responsible for this flop. But one thing I am sure of. A lack of human intellectual responsibility allowed this to happen, and the greed of those same people, who failed to take responsibility, is keeping the product on sale.