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I have noticed posts on Facebook now, finally, asking people not to feed the trolls by responding to their messages. I think that social media companies have b

I have noticed posts on Facebook now, finally, asking people not to feed the trolls by responding to their messages. I think that social media companies have been irresponsible in their passing the buck on moderating conversations in the name of avoiding censorship. I am more concerned, however, that people my age and younger (gen x) never had civics in school. There used to be an assumption that the world is chaotic, and that all we have is each other, which meant that the best society has to offer is its culture. Being uncultured was seen as so uncouth that people wouldn't stand for it. Today it's everywhere. I see people questioning other people's patriotism every day. I see conspiracy theories given the same benefit of the doubt as science. I see lies told on the news without retraction or accountability. Without a mass movement to educate and inform people about how to think critically and treat one another with dignity, technology will be of little help. That said, I'm still hopeful that the tech community can help leapfrog this ugliness. Or at least, quantify the problem and begin working towards solutions.

Inconel 9y ago
I agree, particularly with your point about thinking critically and treating others with dignity, but at the risk of sounding overly pessimistic, why are you hopeful that the broader tech community can help, or even wants to help, leapfrog all this ugliness? As a somewhat outsider looking in, most of what passes for the tech community from what I can observe seems primarily focused with tracking users so that these users can be targeted with advertising to "aid" them in future purchasing decisions. I'm not entirely sold on the idea that this is the community that's going to instill positive change.
- zackmorris 9y ago
  You know, maybe this is one of those junctures where if it can't help, then I question what it is we're all working towards. I thought when the internet came out that free access to all the world's information would enlighten people. Unfortunately, it seems to have had the opposite effect for a great many of us. There is so much ignorance in the face of such vast knowledge. It might be time for us to ask ourselves if we really want our best and brightest to be chasing ad dollars anymore. Is this really the future we were envisioning in the 80s and 90s? It feels like so much rat racing and scrambling for a piece of the pie and playing zero-sum games. That loss of meaning could be part of what's at the heart of the discontent at large. Why can't we be inventing things that free people from labor and give people back a basic standard of living, the loss of which is what's driving so much of these feelings of disenfranchisement in the first place? Sorry I don't have much of an answer, I'm kind of at a loss too.

Inconel 9y ago

I agree, particularly with your point about thinking critically and treating others with dignity, but at the risk of sounding overly pessimistic, why are you hopeful that the broader tech community can help, or even wants to help, leapfrog all this ugliness? As a somewhat outsider looking in, most of what passes for the tech community from what I can observe seems primarily focused with tracking users so that these users can be targeted with advertising to "aid" them in future purchasing decisions. I'm not entirely sold on the idea that this is the community that's going to instill positive change.

zackmorris 9y ago
You know, maybe this is one of those junctures where if it can't help, then I question what it is we're all working towards. I thought when the internet came out that free access to all the world's information would enlighten people. Unfortunately, it seems to have had the opposite effect for a great many of us. There is so much ignorance in the face of such vast knowledge. It might be time for us to ask ourselves if we really want our best and brightest to be chasing ad dollars anymore. Is this really the future we were envisioning in the 80s and 90s? It feels like so much rat racing and scrambling for a piece of the pie and playing zero-sum games. That loss of meaning could be part of what's at the heart of the discontent at large. Why can't we be inventing things that free people from labor and give people back a basic standard of living, the loss of which is what's driving so much of these feelings of disenfranchisement in the first place? Sorry I don't have much of an answer, I'm kind of at a loss too.