tohorotit

Tohorotit is a fictional sociotechnical philosophy and movement within the speculative fiction universe created in the late 2010s. The term combines tohorot, the Hebrew word for ritual purity, with the suffix -it to denote a system or practice. It is presented as a framework for information ethics and the purification of public discourse in digital societies.

Origin and development: The concept was introduced in a 2015 short story and expanded in a 2018 novella and accompanying encyclopedia. In the fiction, tohorotit emerges in response to pervasive misinformation, data harvesting, and manipulative design, offering an alternative governance of information that aims to reduce harm while preserving autonomy.

Principles: At its core, tohorotit seeks to balance consent, transparency, accountability, and privacy. Proponents argue that content provenance, opt-in data collection, clear consent dashboards, and audit trails can reduce deception and manipulation. It also emphasizes communal responsibility, procedural fairness, and periodic reevaluation of rules to address new technologies.

Practices and forms: Within the narrative world, communities implement tohorotit through guidelines, independent ethics councils, and technical tools such as content provenance tagging, autonomous moderation by neutral panels, and "purity audits" that review data handling and platform governance. There are variations, including a 'light' form focused on individual conduct and a 'deep' form targeting institutional policy.

Influence and reception: In-universe, tohorotit is used as a lens for critiquing real-world information ethics and platform design. Critics within the fiction debate whether the movement risks paternalism or suppressing legitimate dissent, while supporters view it as a principled attempt to restore trust in digital ecosystems.