2 ms·

This is fascinating to me. Basically with massively large numbers of people online statistically improbable things come up with regularity and it's hard to tru

by Lio 7y ago

This is fascinating to me. Basically with massively large numbers of people online statistically improbable things come up with regularity and it's hard to trust the validity of a lone voice. One of the themes I really liked in Neal Stephenson's Anathem was the role in of the Ita in filtering information and rating sources. Obviously it's a work of fiction but the idea that you reach a point in time where nothing can be trusted on the internet with very sophisticated filtering is really interesting. I note that where we used to rely on media corporations to filter out bad information that's now sacrificed for entertainment value. e.g. Netflix allow Gwyneth Paltrow to show here "wellness" show because it's entertaining event though it's clearly bollocks. If you know it's just "entertainment" then that's fine you can judge it as such but there's a lot of people that will hear it and say something along the lines of "Western medicine doesn't know everything" and assume it's OK to put jade eggs where the sun doesn't shine.

pjc50 7y ago
We almost filter in bad information because it's entertaining. It's as if the world has got bored of living in a safe, reliable, technocratic, boring, opaque society, and instead decided to incite someone to stab it to death like the boy in the story. People talk about media bubbles, but I think these days we're far less bubbled than we were in the past - anything "big" enough goes global, it's just the spin on the coverage that varies. I do wish it was easier to avoid consuming so much US news and current affairs in the UK; it leaks all over both social media and other media. It's much more likely that you'll be told what's happening in Iowa than in Birmingham (UK), and I think this is increasingly a problem.
- arethuza 7y ago
  "Tell you what's weird, though, do you remember years ago, we used to think the news was boring? Oh, my God, golden days." HBO/BBC Years and Years I had a very strange election night last December - a colleague had recommended Years and Years during election day so I ended up watching 4 episodes alternating with the election results shows - was very confused the next day as to which was which....
- ksdale 7y ago
  I've often had an experience, when reading or watching a fictionalized account of some dramatic thing from history, where I feel exasperated that they didn't just use the real story - "Why would they make this up?? The thing that actually happened was just as crazy, except it was real!" I scream inside my head. So people end up thinking history is boring and needs to be spiced up. As you say, people are bored, but my opinion is that it's mostly because we think the world (and history and science, etc.) is boring, not because it's actually boring.
balfirevic 7y ago
> I note that where we used to rely on media corporations to filter out bad information that's now sacrificed for entertainment value. e.g. Netflix allow Gwyneth Paltrow to show here "wellness" show because it's entertaining event though it's clearly bollocks. But that isn't new, is it? More than a decade ago, that nonsense book The Secret was promoted by Oprah, and I'm sure there are countless more examples from even earlier.

by Lio 7y ago

pjc50 7y ago

We almost filter in bad information because it's entertaining. It's as if the world has got bored of living in a safe, reliable, technocratic, boring, opaque society, and instead decided to incite someone to stab it to death like the boy in the story. People talk about media bubbles, but I think these days we're far less bubbled than we were in the past - anything "big" enough goes global, it's just the spin on the coverage that varies. I do wish it was easier to avoid consuming so much US news and current affairs in the UK; it leaks all over both social media and other media. It's much more likely that you'll be told what's happening in Iowa than in Birmingham (UK), and I think this is increasingly a problem.

arethuza 7y ago
"Tell you what's weird, though, do you remember years ago, we used to think the news was boring? Oh, my God, golden days." HBO/BBC Years and Years I had a very strange election night last December - a colleague had recommended Years and Years during election day so I ended up watching 4 episodes alternating with the election results shows - was very confused the next day as to which was which....
ksdale 7y ago
I've often had an experience, when reading or watching a fictionalized account of some dramatic thing from history, where I feel exasperated that they didn't just use the real story - "Why would they make this up?? The thing that actually happened was just as crazy, except it was real!" I scream inside my head. So people end up thinking history is boring and needs to be spiced up. As you say, people are bored, but my opinion is that it's mostly because we think the world (and history and science, etc.) is boring, not because it's actually boring.

balfirevic 7y ago

> I note that where we used to rely on media corporations to filter out bad information that's now sacrificed for entertainment value. e.g. Netflix allow Gwyneth Paltrow to show here "wellness" show because it's entertaining event though it's clearly bollocks. But that isn't new, is it? More than a decade ago, that nonsense book The Secret was promoted by Oprah, and I'm sure there are countless more examples from even earlier.