Historic aerial and space photography functioned as decisive public proof that changed long‑standing scientific disputes (e.g., the Earth’s curvature). Today, because imagery is central to public persuasion, we must treat photographic provenance and authenticated visual archives as critical public infrastructure to defend truth against synthetic manipulation.
— Establishing legal, technical, and archival standards for image provenance would protect a primary route by which societies form consensus about physical reality and reduce the political leverage of fabricated visuals.
Kristen French
2026.01.15
75% relevant
Calçada’s work illustrates the central claim of the existing idea that imagery can become de facto evidence: highly produced scientific renderings are often received by lay audiences as literal depictions. The article documents an ESO artist producing Nature cover art and discusses the tension between beauty and truth, connecting directly to the need for provenance and provenance standards for visual scientific claims.
Molly Glick
2025.12.31
100% relevant
Captain Albert Stevens’s 1930 high‑altitude photograph (shown at the 1930 AAAS meeting and later in National Geographic) is an explicit historical example of a single image shifting public belief about Earth’s shape.
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