4 ms·

Fake news can't be solved with bans, only through education. Education is a long term investment though and everyone wants immediate fixes. Expect more of this

by rapind 7y ago

Fake news can't be solved with bans, only through education. Education is a long term investment though and everyone wants immediate fixes. Expect more of this nonsensical short term thinking.

subhobroto 7y ago
> Fake news can't be solved with bans, only through education. Education is a long term investment though and everyone wants immediate fixes. Upvoted! I wish yours was the top rated comment and more thought like you. Instaed we have views like this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22956485 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22956485 Very concerning. As I wrote here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22956536 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22956536 To a regular random person, Youtube is synonymous with video content. Youtube is the news. Perhaps one solution for Youtube would be to demonetize and label such content as "unsafe" or don't sue me bro mode". Anyone who's a minor doesnt get to see this "unsafe" content. Anyone who watches the content with "unsafe" mode on, sees the content. Give customers the choice to choose and make up their own minds. Removing content with the authority of being the primary video content platform? They don't get away so easy. With power comes responsibility. They have to handle this another way and this, is not it.
hackeryogi 7y ago
With all my heart, I agree with you; but I wished I shared some of your enthusiasm. I've been brought up with the saying, 'The sole purpose of education is to help a person think sensibly in difficult times'. However, I've not come across any _major_ shift in education systems worldwide. Yes, there are heartening stories about a few charter school systems [1] and a few countries making strides (like Finland). But these are one off success stories. I do hope that technology companies make a step towards solving this. But our startup culture, unfortunately, also is laced with trying to 'show growth' all the time and that leads us to think short term too. Perhaps something like the LTSE may help private players take long term bets (fingers crossed). Also, even the history of education is ripe with missteps [2], mind you :) not unlike the decision by YouTube here (as someone said, The road to hell is paved with good intentions) Don't get me wrong, I want to be as optimistic as you are :) [1] https://www.wikiwand.com/en/KIPP https://www.wikiwand.com/en/KIPP (I think I came across this while reading Outliers by Gladwell) [2] http://www.csun.edu/~vcmth00m/AHistory.html http://www.csun.edu/~vcmth00m/AHistory.html
Noos 7y ago
I'm not sure education is the issue. I think the issue is people latch on to these things due to feeling or being powerless. They reach for solutions rather than being stuck in an endless waiting or trusting period, hoping for remote experts to do something. Education can help that but not always, and especially if the experts are adversarial to groups of people.
Kaiyou 7y ago
Education is limited to things we know. It's a knowledge transfer. In areas where there is no prior knowledge, education isn't a fix. Also, prior knowledge can be contested with new knowledge and then change to a hopefully more correct version. It is this process that gets exploited by fake news. Take the example of Napoleons height. In school I learned that he was of a small stature. In recent years I've heard (read on Wikipedias list of common misconceptions) that this was in fact false, he was average height and only appeared small because he was often seen next to someone who was unusually large. So now what am I going to make of Napoleons height? I can't easily confirm the truth and it doesn't really matter anyway, so suddenly I realize that I never had true knowledge about his height. It's the same with other things that I were thought. I realize most of it is just what someone told me and not real knowledge. This reflects pretty much the majority of my education and I think I now understand Socrates a little better: "I know that I know nothing". So no, education isn't a silver bullet. It's just a nice sounding word for "things I've been told by other people". It doesn't really help me differentiate between what's the truth and what isn't. So once there are two ideas, like "Napoleon was a short person" and "Napoleon was of average height" I'm lost. Either could be true and I don't have the free time to get to the bottom of every single thing I once thought I knew.
squarefoot 7y ago
Especially now that attacking/defending WHO has become an extension of political debates.
strathmeyer 7y ago
I think you are going to find education's lesson plan is much more restrictive than removing false information.

by rapind 7y ago

Fake news can't be solved with bans, only through education. Education is a long term investment though and everyone wants immediate fixes. Expect more of this nonsensical short term thinking.

subhobroto 7y ago

> Fake news can't be solved with bans, only through education. Education is a long term investment though and everyone wants immediate fixes. Upvoted! I wish yours was the top rated comment and more thought like you. Instaed we have views like this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22956485 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22956485 Very concerning. As I wrote here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22956536 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22956536 To a regular random person, Youtube is synonymous with video content. Youtube is the news. Perhaps one solution for Youtube would be to demonetize and label such content as "unsafe" or don't sue me bro mode". Anyone who's a minor doesnt get to see this "unsafe" content. Anyone who watches the content with "unsafe" mode on, sees the content. Give customers the choice to choose and make up their own minds. Removing content with the authority of being the primary video content platform? They don't get away so easy. With power comes responsibility. They have to handle this another way and this, is not it.

hackeryogi 7y ago

With all my heart, I agree with you; but I wished I shared some of your enthusiasm. I've been brought up with the saying, 'The sole purpose of education is to help a person think sensibly in difficult times'. However, I've not come across any _major_ shift in education systems worldwide. Yes, there are heartening stories about a few charter school systems [1] and a few countries making strides (like Finland). But these are one off success stories. I do hope that technology companies make a step towards solving this. But our startup culture, unfortunately, also is laced with trying to 'show growth' all the time and that leads us to think short term too. Perhaps something like the LTSE may help private players take long term bets (fingers crossed). Also, even the history of education is ripe with missteps [2], mind you :) not unlike the decision by YouTube here (as someone said, The road to hell is paved with good intentions) Don't get me wrong, I want to be as optimistic as you are :) [1] https://www.wikiwand.com/en/KIPP https://www.wikiwand.com/en/KIPP (I think I came across this while reading Outliers by Gladwell) [2] http://www.csun.edu/~vcmth00m/AHistory.html http://www.csun.edu/~vcmth00m/AHistory.html

Noos 7y ago

I'm not sure education is the issue. I think the issue is people latch on to these things due to feeling or being powerless. They reach for solutions rather than being stuck in an endless waiting or trusting period, hoping for remote experts to do something. Education can help that but not always, and especially if the experts are adversarial to groups of people.

Kaiyou 7y ago

Education is limited to things we know. It's a knowledge transfer. In areas where there is no prior knowledge, education isn't a fix. Also, prior knowledge can be contested with new knowledge and then change to a hopefully more correct version. It is this process that gets exploited by fake news. Take the example of Napoleons height. In school I learned that he was of a small stature. In recent years I've heard (read on Wikipedias list of common misconceptions) that this was in fact false, he was average height and only appeared small because he was often seen next to someone who was unusually large. So now what am I going to make of Napoleons height? I can't easily confirm the truth and it doesn't really matter anyway, so suddenly I realize that I never had true knowledge about his height. It's the same with other things that I were thought. I realize most of it is just what someone told me and not real knowledge. This reflects pretty much the majority of my education and I think I now understand Socrates a little better: "I know that I know nothing". So no, education isn't a silver bullet. It's just a nice sounding word for "things I've been told by other people". It doesn't really help me differentiate between what's the truth and what isn't. So once there are two ideas, like "Napoleon was a short person" and "Napoleon was of average height" I'm lost. Either could be true and I don't have the free time to get to the bottom of every single thing I once thought I knew.

squarefoot 7y ago

Especially now that attacking/defending WHO has become an extension of political debates.

strathmeyer 7y ago

I think you are going to find education's lesson plan is much more restrictive than removing false information.