Project Vision 21

Pervasive deceit is nothing new. Forty-five years ago, in 1980, cryptographer Gustavus Simmons introduced the concept to describe scenarios in which secure communication had to be established within a context of intentional, continuous, and widespread deception. In other words, our present reality.
 

Originally, this was a technical concern, focused on how to protect information when “adversaries” sought to intercept it. At the time, the challenge of pervasive deceit was mostly confined to military and intelligence contexts, where confidentiality and authentication were paramount.
 

Today, however, this concept has expanded far beyond cryptography to describe the world we all inhabit: a digital ecosystem where misinformation is not an anomaly but the norm, and where trust is growing ever more fragile. In fact, the very technologies designed to connect us are the same ones that now facilitate deception on an unprecedented scale.
 

Information is no longer simply transmitted from reliable sources to recipients. Instead, it is filtered, reshaped, and often weaponized by algorithms that prioritize engagement over truth. Social media platforms, once envisioned as tools for democratizing knowledge, have instead amplified deception by rewarding sensationalism and controversy.

Misinformation spreads faster than facts. The systems that govern online interactions have made deception profitable, viral, and difficult to correct.
 

In such an environment, trust in institutions, experts, and even the very nature of truth itself has eroded. And here we encounter a paradox that defines our time: if new technologies are disconnecting people from one another and if they allow—indeed, even promote—pervasive deceit, why do the proposed solutions almost always involve even more technology?
 

For some, the answer is purely pragmatic. The scale of digital misinformation and deception surpasses human capacity for verification. In an era where artificial intelligence can generate hyper-realistic fake news, falsified videos, and fabricated documents in minutes, it is no longer feasible for individuals—or even institutions—to manually verify every piece of information they encounter. In theory, new technologies should restore trust.
 

However, this reliance on technological solutions introduces its own set of challenges. Trust is not merely a function of verification; it is relational, cultural, and deeply human. The more we delegate to technology, the further we drift from the organic, community-based ways in which trust has historically been built. Are we trapped in a cycle where every solution only deepens the problem?
 

The real challenge is not just technological but philosophical. For centuries, societies relied on shared frameworks of meaning—traditions, institutions, and personal relationships—to establish trust.

The digital revolution, while bringing unprecedented access to information, has fragmented those frameworks, replacing them with algorithmic mediation. In this context, we are left with a critical dilemma: we cannot abandon technology, but we also cannot rely solely on it to rebuild the very thing it has destabilized.
 

If we continue to frame every crisis of trust as a problem that more technology can solve, we will only deepen our disconnection—from ourselves, from others, from the universe, and from the divine— in a perpetual cycle of self-deception.