infohazard

English

Etymology

Blend of information +‎ hazard or info +‎ hazard.

Noun

infohazard (plural infohazards)

1. (chiefly science fiction) A piece of information which is directly harmful to one who knows it.
   • [2019 June 13, Tom Chivers, The AI Does Not Hate You‎^[1], Orion Publishing Group, →ISBN:

     A basilisk, in this context, is information that can hurt you simply because you are aware of it. Yudkowsky uses the term 'infohazard'.]

   • 2019 August 28, Fletcher Wortmann, “Infohazard Warning: How Internal Memes Infect Your Brain”, in Triggered‎^[2], Psychology Today, retrieved 2020-08-31:

     If a meme is any idea that gets in your head, then an "infohazard" is a meme that's actively harmful to its host.

2. An information hazard; a piece of information which can be used to cause harm by one who knows it.

Hyponyms

• Roko's basilisk

Coordinate terms

• cognitohazard
• memetic hazard

Derived terms

• infohazardous