"The solution to solving the problems you outlined above is getting more information out there, not less. More, not less"
Just noticed that I missed this point. No, this is absolutely catastrophically untrue.
The antidote to bad speech is not simply *more* speech, it's *better* speech. Which is what I'm advocating for. Partly because nobody has time to consume an infinite amount of bad information in the hopes of getting to the good stuff, and also because we are not perfect information processing machines that aren't influenced by the repetition of nonsense and lies. Even obvious nonsense and lies.
This is actually a great idea of what I'm talking about. We all know that words doesn't become true just because they've been repeated often. But it sometimes feels like they are.
If you are trying to find a signal in amongst the noise, the solution is not to add more noise. You have two options. Reduce the noise, or strengthen the signal. Most speech, and this has always been the case, is noise. But in the social media age, there is an exponential increase in noise, and especially in the reach of noise, and still roughly the same amount of signal. The reach signal has increased a bit, but depressingly enough, not as much as the reach of noise has.
I'm advocating for efforts to improve the signal to noise ratio. And before you "who gets to decide" me, there are lots of things we have managed to figure out the truth of throughout history. The fact that some things are ambiguous doesn't mean we have to pretend that everything is. I'm not talking about Hunter Biden's laptop or how many prostitutes Donald Trump had sex with. This is just reality-TV crap that "responsible adults" should be smarter than.
I'm talking about things that affect decision we make about our health, or about whether we can have faith in the democratic process, or whether its okay for a former president to undermine millions of people's faith in democracy because his ego couldn't handle his very obvious loss. Information like this is incredibly consequential. And we need to be more careful about it than we are currently being.
"The solution to solving the problems you outlined above is getting more information out there, not less. More, not less"
Just noticed that I missed this point. No, this is absolutely catastrophically untrue.
The antidote to bad speech is not simply *more* speech, it's *better* speech. Which is what I'm advocating for. Partly because nobody has time to consume an infinite amount of bad information in the hopes of getting to the good stuff, and also because we are not perfect information processing machines that aren't influenced by the repetition of nonsense and lies. Even obvious nonsense and lies.
This is actually a great idea of what I'm talking about. We all know that words doesn't become true just because they've been repeated often. But it sometimes feels like they are.
If you are trying to find a signal in amongst the noise, the solution is not to add more noise. You have two options. Reduce the noise, or strengthen the signal. Most speech, and this has always been the case, is noise. But in the social media age, there is an exponential increase in noise, and especially in the reach of noise, and still roughly the same amount of signal. The reach signal has increased a bit, but depressingly enough, not as much as the reach of noise has.
I'm advocating for efforts to improve the signal to noise ratio. And before you "who gets to decide" me, there are lots of things we have managed to figure out the truth of throughout history. The fact that some things are ambiguous doesn't mean we have to pretend that everything is. I'm not talking about Hunter Biden's laptop or how many prostitutes Donald Trump had sex with. This is just reality-TV crap that "responsible adults" should be smarter than.
I'm talking about things that affect decision we make about our health, or about whether we can have faith in the democratic process, or whether its okay for a former president to undermine millions of people's faith in democracy because his ego couldn't handle his very obvious loss. Information like this is incredibly consequential. And we need to be more careful about it than we are currently being.