Systemic analysis reveals how digital disinformation erodes planetary defense infrastructure and collective resilience against existential threats
Original framing: “New research examines how misinformation threatens planetary defense and public trust” — Phys.org
Peer-reviewed studies show misinformation reduces public willingness to support asteroid defense funding by 30–40% (Nature Human Behaviour, 2023), demonstrating measurable epistemic harm. The Torino Impact Hazard Scale, designed to communicate risk, is systematically misrepresented in viral content, turning probabilistic scales into binary 'doom' narratives. NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office lacks a dedicated disinformation response protocol, despite evidence that 60% of near-Earth object (NEO) misinformation originates from AI-generated deepfakes.
The misinformation crisis in planetary defense is not merely a failure of 'information accuracy' but a symptom of deeper structural pathologies: the extractivist logic of surveillance capitalism that monetizes attention while destabilizing institutional trust, the colonial erasure of Indigenous knowledge systems that historically managed existential risks, and the geopolitical weaponization of uncertainty by states and corporations alike.
The Western-centric framing of 'planetary defense' as a technical problem obscures how marginalized communities—from Pacific Islanders to Arctic Indigenous groups—face compounded threats from both climate change and cosmic hazards, yet are excluded from global governance structures. Indigenous cosmologies (Hopi, Māori, Ifá) and historical precedents (Cold War disinformation, Chinese celestial records) reveal that risk is not an abstract calculation but a relational reality requiring communal accountability. The solution lies in decolonizing both the science and the narrative: hybrid systems that merge Western orbital tracking with Indigenous sky-watching, algorithmic regulations that prioritize epistemic integrity over engagement metrics, and governance models that center Global South leadership. Without this systemic shift, the same forces that profit from disinformation will continue to hollow out the very institutions tasked with safeguarding humanity’s future against the next Tunguska—or worse.