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I see the point. Still scares the hell out of me. Privacy is a very strange thing. Even though I know that what I comment in online forums like HN is public f
by saganus 10y ago
I see the point.
Still scares the hell out of me.
Privacy is a very strange thing. Even though I know that what I comment in online forums like HN is public for all intents and purposes it sends chills down my spine to think that we as a community could be shaped as you say.
And if they are able to do so, how do they do it? I mean, besides the obvious tools like sockpuppet accounts and such, how do you build a strategy to steer an online community? what kind of psychological tools do you need to employ?
Obviously psyops and humint people have decades of research on public manipulation, but still... how do you measure success? how do you keep it out of the participants' attention in a community that is full of educated (on these issues) people, or at least more educated than the average Joe I would hope?
- Jugurtha 10y agoWell, a "community" can be shaped when its individuals delegate thinking for themselves. This is the case with places where traditions hinder critical thinking. Everyone in unison: "GO TO statements are bad; Dijkstra said so". It also doesn't need to be kept out of the participant's attention to work or there wouldn't have been Hanssens and Polyakovs.. My point is that if the very people who do this for a living and are trained to counter an effort to turn them can be recruited, then anyone can be. Smart people seem to be like a machine with more open ports than a microwave and knowing the knife is sharp doesn't make one bleed less.