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Your comment follows two persistent HN tropes: (1) ignoring the article, which deals precisely with why the cost of production matters, and (2) steadfastly refusing to recognise that quantity has a quality of its own - in this case a monumental reduction in production cost clearly leads to a tectonic reshaping of the information landscape.

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…but enough about the printing press.

Funny that you mention the printing press. One of the first books published using it was about how to identify witches which led to "witch" burnings in Europe. At some point society adapted to the misinformation (and we are better off for it), but a lot of innocent people suffered in the meantime.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/europ...

I did read the article and it does deal with fake photos being an old thing and name drops e.g. Stalin's former companions being removed one by one from photos.

"There was a brief window where photography and videos became widespread so events could be documented and evidenced."

Photos are video have in themself not been evidence. You need trust the photographer or publisher too, since the camera was invented.

Moving the cost from big $$$ level to my neighbour level makes scams more personalized, sure.

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