The article presents an agent-based model to study when agents manage to develop true beliefs through communication. Strikingly, the model suggests that even when agents are perfectly truthful, cooperative, and have flawless information processing, allowing them to exchange unlimited information can make the group’s collective beliefs less accurate. These findings strongly resonate with the core idea behind the Perycles project: digital communication is complex and must be carefully designed, as seemingly innocent design principles can have unexpected and undesirable consequences, which is why rigorous scientific methods are essential for developing digital tools for democratic debate and decision-making.

The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), is a journal of the National Academy of Sciences and one of the most prestigious academic journals. Congratulations to Davide Grossi and his coauthors (Jonas Stein, Shannon Cruz and Martina Testorif)!

Please find the publication here: https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2518472123?af=R