As our social and informational lives increasingly shift online, the distinction between "real" and digitally fabricated content blurs, with significant real-world consequences. This work takes a long view of how technological advancements have led to the proliferation of faked texts, images, and videos that often appear indistinguishable from authentic content. Walter J. Scheirer, a computer scientist, explores the origins of fake news, conspiracy theories, and reports of the paranormal, tracing their evolution from 19th-century image manipulation to the rise of AI-driven language models like ChatGPT. He examines early Internet hoaxes that spread through Bulletin Board Systems, USENET, and email, leading to today's hyperrealistic Deepfakes. With expertise in machine learning, Scheirer details the technical advancements that enable digital deception and recounts early Internet pranks that have become part of hacker lore. His narrative introduces the visionaries and mischief-makers behind digital fakery, including hackers, digital artists, media forensics specialists, and AI researchers. Ultimately, Scheirer posits that the challenges posed by fake content arise not from the content itself but from human behavior, highlighting our dual capacity for creativity and destruction.
