A brief natural history of misinformation

Abstract

The idea that organisms benefit by acquiring information through social connections is a cornerstone of our understanding of social evolution and collective behaviour. Yet, while learning about the world through social ties can confer many benefits, these connections can also serve as conduits for misinformation. Studies of misinformation in human social systems are rapidly proliferating, yet our understanding of the biological origins of misinformation remains surprisingly limited. In this review, we survey examples of socially transmitted misinformation across biological systems. Our central findings are (i) that the transmission and use of misinformation is widespread in biological systems spanning levels of organization, and (ii) that the production and transmission of misinformation is probably an inevitable property that inherits from fundamental constraints on biological communication systems, rather than a pathology that lies apart from the normal functioning of such systems. In this light, we argue that there is a need for a more integrated theoretical and empirical science of misinformation in biology. We end by highlighting four emerging questions about misinformation and its role in driving ecological and evolutionary dynamics that this new field of inquiry should address.