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What makes the current situation unique is the ubiquitous presence of the internet as a very robust and very efficient infection vector for disinformation. We'

What makes the current situation unique is the ubiquitous presence of the internet as a very robust and very efficient infection vector for disinformation. We've just never had something quite like it.

k__ 7y ago
On the other hand the civs bevor us had far less people, so they probably didn't need internet to distribute the news. Since the population boom it took quite a while to get something like the internet set up.
vkou 7y ago
In the marketplace of ideas, a lie travels half-way around the world, before the truth gets is shoes on. It's a lot easier to broadcast low-effort bullshit, than rebut it.
colmvp 7y ago
It's funny, having been part of the generation that was educated as a youngster midway through the rise of the Internet, I can't help but feel envious of young people now who have access to a wealth of resources I never had growing up. Nowadays, one can go online and find PDFs of textbooks, online lectures from prestigious professors teaching useful subjects, videos from conferences to learn latest findings, tutorials on practically every subject matter, Discord groups / subreddits from other enthusiasts, YouTube videos explaining practically every esoteric subject matter... I could've used so many of these resources when I was struggling in high school with classes taught by smart but bad teachers. I guess I've felt like it hasn't been that hard to separate the 'good' information from the misinformation.
- kwhitefoot 7y ago
  I grew up pre-Internet and I don't regret not having had access to it when growing up at all. The schools I went to had good libraries as did the town. I'm not sure I would have got more out of the Internet than I did out of books; I'm also not saying that I wouldn't, just that it is not a foregone conclusion that having access to a firehose is necessarily a better way to slake ones thirst than from a less dramatic tap. I had no trouble finding textbooks, I could ask my high school teachers, my university tutor, my friends, classmates, and so on for help. As for the esoteric subjects, well they are esoteric precisely because not many people are interested in them so I don't think I lost out there either. The amount of information available to me in the late sixties and seventies was already many orders of magnitude more than any one person could consume.
- mistermann 7y ago
  I wonder if we'll see to some degree much wider variance in intelligence in kids growing up with access to these resources. I was a fairly nerdy kid, but all I had access to was a crappy library, I was starving for interesting information. But then again, if I was growing up now I very well may have become addicted to iPad games.
Nasrudith 7y ago
Radio had and to a lesser extent has a similiar effect - and it was also a robust vector for (dis)information. However it had bandwidth limits and centralization over limited airwaves. Plenty of disinformation was passed before but it was limited to those who had permission or ability to act without it without any consequences.
makomk 7y ago
Meh. It looks like the UK's measles problem at least was mainly caused by the mainstream media acting as a vector for disinformation back in 1998, before most people had internet access: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/769970/UK_measles_and_rubella_elimination_strategy.pdf https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/... Current childhood vaccination rates are much better than they were back then, but unfortunately there are still a lot of people who're now in their teens and early twenties who have no immunity because they missed out on vaccinations. This obviously does vary from country to country. Greece's big problem is more the complete destruction of its economy over the past decade and the vast damage this has done to healthcare access there.

k__ 7y ago

On the other hand the civs bevor us had far less people, so they probably didn't need internet to distribute the news. Since the population boom it took quite a while to get something like the internet set up.

vkou 7y ago

In the marketplace of ideas, a lie travels half-way around the world, before the truth gets is shoes on. It's a lot easier to broadcast low-effort bullshit, than rebut it.

colmvp 7y ago

It's funny, having been part of the generation that was educated as a youngster midway through the rise of the Internet, I can't help but feel envious of young people now who have access to a wealth of resources I never had growing up. Nowadays, one can go online and find PDFs of textbooks, online lectures from prestigious professors teaching useful subjects, videos from conferences to learn latest findings, tutorials on practically every subject matter, Discord groups / subreddits from other enthusiasts, YouTube videos explaining practically every esoteric subject matter... I could've used so many of these resources when I was struggling in high school with classes taught by smart but bad teachers. I guess I've felt like it hasn't been that hard to separate the 'good' information from the misinformation.

kwhitefoot 7y ago
I grew up pre-Internet and I don't regret not having had access to it when growing up at all. The schools I went to had good libraries as did the town. I'm not sure I would have got more out of the Internet than I did out of books; I'm also not saying that I wouldn't, just that it is not a foregone conclusion that having access to a firehose is necessarily a better way to slake ones thirst than from a less dramatic tap. I had no trouble finding textbooks, I could ask my high school teachers, my university tutor, my friends, classmates, and so on for help. As for the esoteric subjects, well they are esoteric precisely because not many people are interested in them so I don't think I lost out there either. The amount of information available to me in the late sixties and seventies was already many orders of magnitude more than any one person could consume.
mistermann 7y ago
I wonder if we'll see to some degree much wider variance in intelligence in kids growing up with access to these resources. I was a fairly nerdy kid, but all I had access to was a crappy library, I was starving for interesting information. But then again, if I was growing up now I very well may have become addicted to iPad games.

Nasrudith 7y ago

Radio had and to a lesser extent has a similiar effect - and it was also a robust vector for (dis)information. However it had bandwidth limits and centralization over limited airwaves. Plenty of disinformation was passed before but it was limited to those who had permission or ability to act without it without any consequences.

makomk 7y ago

Meh. It looks like the UK's measles problem at least was mainly caused by the mainstream media acting as a vector for disinformation back in 1998, before most people had internet access: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/769970/UK_measles_and_rubella_elimination_strategy.pdf https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/... Current childhood vaccination rates are much better than they were back then, but unfortunately there are still a lot of people who're now in their teens and early twenties who have no immunity because they missed out on vaccinations. This obviously does vary from country to country. Greece's big problem is more the complete destruction of its economy over the past decade and the vast damage this has done to healthcare access there.