2017/02/23 by Wei Su, Su, Wei, Yongguang Yu +1
Physics and Astronomy · Social Sciences · #Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems (nlin.AO) #Complex Network Analysis Techniques #FOS: Computer and information sciences #FOS: Mathematics #FOS: Physical sciences #Information Theory (cs.IT) #Misinformation and Its Impacts #Opinion Dynamics and Social Influence #Optimization and Control (math.OC) #Social and Information Networks (cs.SI)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1702.07637
openalex publication_date 2017/02/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
How can we approach the truth in a society? It may depend on various factors. In this paper, using a well-established truth seeking model, we show that the persistent free information flow will bring us to the truth. Here the free information flow is modeled as the environmental random noise that could alter one's cognition. Without the random noise, the model predicts that the truth can only be captured by the truth seekers who own active perceptive ability of the truth and their believers, while the other individuals may stick to falsehood. But under the influence of the random noise, we strictly prove that even there is only one truth seeker in the group, all individuals will finally approach the truth.