3 ms·

I feel like he's right, but there's much more to understand here. The broadcast of oversimplified messages through a human network that reacts strongly to thos

I feel like he's right, but there's much more to understand here. The broadcast of oversimplified messages through a human network that reacts strongly to those messages, and thus boosts the signal of those messages further, is something that bears careful consideration.

mc32 8y ago
Some of this behavior could be mitigated. Remove likes and resharing. Ban the incentives (economic, internet points, attenuate diffusion with distance from *caster), etc. in other words, semi-anonymize the author, take away virality and remove the economics (likes, views, etc., which incentivize virality).
- pferde 8y ago
  Just for clarification - did you really mean "virility", or was it supposed to be "virality"? :)
  - mc32 8y ago
    My mistake virality in both cases, although virility in some sense could also make sense.
HNthrow22 8y ago
Agreed, beyond conditioning a generation of addictive consumers the narrative has never been more muddied and easily manipulated. Facts no longer matter and that's terrifying. The world needs to figure out how to “put into place very strict requirements with appropriate consequences that make it unthinkable to violate them.” “Everyone agrees we shouldn’t be doing this yet,” These quotes are from a Bloomberg article* about the Chinese scientist who edited the twins DNA as embryos, found interesting that society is able to recognize the incredible dangers and implications of DNA modifications yet have a huge blind spot for tech, perhaps because it's so useful in our day to day lives. User-engagement, optimizing for addiction and driving individuals into echo chambers and the welcoming arms of extremists looking to recruit, worth it for free email I guess? * https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-13/top-genetics-experts-call-for-ban-on-modifying-dna-of-embryos https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-13/top-genet...

mc32 8y ago

Some of this behavior could be mitigated. Remove likes and resharing. Ban the incentives (economic, internet points, attenuate diffusion with distance from *caster), etc. in other words, semi-anonymize the author, take away virality and remove the economics (likes, views, etc., which incentivize virality).

pferde 8y ago
Just for clarification - did you really mean "virility", or was it supposed to be "virality"? :)
- mc32 8y ago
  My mistake virality in both cases, although virility in some sense could also make sense.

HNthrow22 8y ago

Agreed, beyond conditioning a generation of addictive consumers the narrative has never been more muddied and easily manipulated. Facts no longer matter and that's terrifying. The world needs to figure out how to “put into place very strict requirements with appropriate consequences that make it unthinkable to violate them.” “Everyone agrees we shouldn’t be doing this yet,” These quotes are from a Bloomberg article* about the Chinese scientist who edited the twins DNA as embryos, found interesting that society is able to recognize the incredible dangers and implications of DNA modifications yet have a huge blind spot for tech, perhaps because it's so useful in our day to day lives. User-engagement, optimizing for addiction and driving individuals into echo chambers and the welcoming arms of extremists looking to recruit, worth it for free email I guess? * https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-13/top-genetics-experts-call-for-ban-on-modifying-dna-of-embryos https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-13/top-genet...