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How a Handful of American Tech Companies Help Radicalized the World

40 points by cryptozeus 8y ago

0xcde4c3db 8y ago
Non-AMP link (readable without JS, at least for me): https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanhatesthis/brazil-jair-bolsonaro-facebook-elections https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanhatesthis/brazil-ja...
ataturk 8y ago
This was written by someone in their 20s who doesn't have the first clue why conservatism is on the rise and why it's not fascism, but rather a response to government overreach, intrusion, and destruction of rights and freedoms. It's a messy process. Duterte in the Philippines got elected because the people were sick of what was going on with crime, drugs, and the abuse of the people by social engineers. It's the same story every place you look. We trusted government and government betrayed us and then some. How was globalism going to fix that? By being less accountable? Yeah, right!
narrator 8y ago
Catholic Church headline in 1500s: "How a handful of Gutenberg press printers radicalized the world." Distributing a Gutenberg bible was punishable by death at one point. Plenty of war and persecution resulted from the conflict between Protestants and Catholics. Availability of printed bibles in the vernacular played a major role in magnifying the conflict.
- happytoexplain 8y ago
  That's a pretty dramatic metaphor. Can you describe why you think it applies?
  - narrator 8y ago
    The Ottoman Empire banned printing presses because they were blasphemous and politically destabilizing and they fell dramatically behind the west leading to their eventual total defeat. Free speech enabled by new technologies has good and bad parts, but it's more good than bad. The desire for political stability and maintaining the status quo over everything else is a really lousy way to run things and it's just better to accept that the benefits of free and open communication are better than the risks or a pervasive A.I enabled censorship state like they have in China.
josefresco 8y ago
How a Handful of American Tech Companies Helped Radicalized the World or How a Handful of American Tech Companies Help Radicalize the World
- bryanrasmussen 8y ago
  surely Helped Radicalize.
gambiting 8y ago
It's reaching the level for me where I am sitting at my desk right now, I am supposed to be writing code for a huge corporation, and I'm just thinking to myself - what's the point? The world is literally going down the drain and there's few hundred people around me producing entertainment content - it almost feels like a joke, like we should stand up and walk out. I feel like few years ago maybe it wasn't great, but at least it felt like it was getting better, slowly. Now it's the exact opposite - I wouldn't be surprised if all of this lead to another world war, or a huge genocide against a minority somewhere. Anyone has any ideas on how to deal with how depressing the world is around us? And then - how do we help(without getting killed/landing in jail)?
- cryptozeus 8y ago
  Its interesting how the shift happens very quickly. I feel exactly the same and so do many of my friends. I don’t have answer for you.
- rendall 8y ago
  Don't read buzzfeed. I'm serious. They amplify conflict for the sake of click-views, rather than inform. Moreover, don't take to heart news media of any political stripe that seems to amplify, misinform, re-interpret, or revise. And they all do it, to some degree, even those who are most respected. We live in a global era of unprecedented peace, prosperity and democracy by nearly every measure: crime, poverty, infant mortality, education, equality, war, genocide. No, it is not all sunshine and rainbows by any means, and there are always dark situations that are counter-examples to the general trend, but we are doing okay overall. The news relies on our genetic pessimism to generate revenue. Do not fall for it. That said, do stay vigilant. Civilization is fragile, and it has enemies, some of whom are well-meaning and good-hearted.

40 points by cryptozeus 8y ago

Non-AMP link (readable without JS, at least for me): https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanhatesthis/brazil-jair-bolsonaro-facebook-elections https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanhatesthis/brazil-ja...

ataturk 8y ago

This was written by someone in their 20s who doesn't have the first clue why conservatism is on the rise and why it's not fascism, but rather a response to government overreach, intrusion, and destruction of rights and freedoms. It's a messy process. Duterte in the Philippines got elected because the people were sick of what was going on with crime, drugs, and the abuse of the people by social engineers. It's the same story every place you look. We trusted government and government betrayed us and then some. How was globalism going to fix that? By being less accountable? Yeah, right!

narrator 8y ago

Catholic Church headline in 1500s: "How a handful of Gutenberg press printers radicalized the world." Distributing a Gutenberg bible was punishable by death at one point. Plenty of war and persecution resulted from the conflict between Protestants and Catholics. Availability of printed bibles in the vernacular played a major role in magnifying the conflict.

happytoexplain 8y ago
That's a pretty dramatic metaphor. Can you describe why you think it applies?
- narrator 8y ago
  The Ottoman Empire banned printing presses because they were blasphemous and politically destabilizing and they fell dramatically behind the west leading to their eventual total defeat. Free speech enabled by new technologies has good and bad parts, but it's more good than bad. The desire for political stability and maintaining the status quo over everything else is a really lousy way to run things and it's just better to accept that the benefits of free and open communication are better than the risks or a pervasive A.I enabled censorship state like they have in China.

josefresco 8y ago

How a Handful of American Tech Companies Helped Radicalized the World or How a Handful of American Tech Companies Help Radicalize the World

bryanrasmussen 8y ago
surely Helped Radicalize.

gambiting 8y ago

It's reaching the level for me where I am sitting at my desk right now, I am supposed to be writing code for a huge corporation, and I'm just thinking to myself - what's the point? The world is literally going down the drain and there's few hundred people around me producing entertainment content - it almost feels like a joke, like we should stand up and walk out. I feel like few years ago maybe it wasn't great, but at least it felt like it was getting better, slowly. Now it's the exact opposite - I wouldn't be surprised if all of this lead to another world war, or a huge genocide against a minority somewhere. Anyone has any ideas on how to deal with how depressing the world is around us? And then - how do we help(without getting killed/landing in jail)?

cryptozeus 8y ago
Its interesting how the shift happens very quickly. I feel exactly the same and so do many of my friends. I don’t have answer for you.
rendall 8y ago
Don't read buzzfeed. I'm serious. They amplify conflict for the sake of click-views, rather than inform. Moreover, don't take to heart news media of any political stripe that seems to amplify, misinform, re-interpret, or revise. And they all do it, to some degree, even those who are most respected. We live in a global era of unprecedented peace, prosperity and democracy by nearly every measure: crime, poverty, infant mortality, education, equality, war, genocide. No, it is not all sunshine and rainbows by any means, and there are always dark situations that are counter-examples to the general trend, but we are doing okay overall. The news relies on our genetic pessimism to generate revenue. Do not fall for it. That said, do stay vigilant. Civilization is fragile, and it has enemies, some of whom are well-meaning and good-hearted.