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I guess if this were the 1500s YouTube would only have us post videos that confirm that witches and heretics should be burned at the stake. Maybe it would be ok

I guess if this were the 1500s YouTube would only have us post videos that confirm that witches and heretics should be burned at the stake. Maybe it would be okay to talk about a few more crusades. Mankind improves because systems become big, rigid, and unable to evolve. People come along and point that out, suggesting various theories about how those systems got that way, the reasons why they are wrong, and offering suggestions for improvement. It needs to be said that 99% of the time, these people are wrong. They're emotionally ill, they don't understand the situation, they have perhaps virulent and insidious ideologies that blind them to reality. These are exactly the people you want in the public square. They teach the youth about critical thinking and how to reason about your view of the world. They let the rest of us keep an eye on them in case they get violent. Plus, many of them are just happy to yell into the void; without that, there would be a lot more violence than there would be otherwise. But every 1% of the time, those folks are actually right. Slowly they convince the rest of us. Our species improves. YouTube can't do this. Whatever their intentions, they are directly acting against the health of our species by creating a new orthodoxy. They have to be stopped, whether broken up, taxed, or banned. It's not that the WHO is wrong here. They're probably right. It's that YouTube is making it so that the WHO can never be wrong, ie, we can never have a public discussion about their policies. Worse still, history has shown us that when you start going down this route you are actually acting against your society's interest. People treated as if they can't think for themselves turn into a population that can't think for itself. The WHO is fine, it's YouTube that has become the real enemy to public health by doing this.

subhobroto 6y ago
I am noticing, increasingly in the country I live in - the U.S., an extremely concerning attitude towards love for censorship. More concerning is that the proponents have "good intentions" at heart. It's almost as if the concept of freedom is not understood. Freedom is not free. Freedom has a price, often a heavy price that one has to pay for it. The fact that we are not children anymore who desparately need oversight and constant handholding, seems to be an alien concept. "Oh! What do you do about those YouTUbe videos that tell you to drink bleach because it saves you from SARS-COV2!" Well, I watch that video and research what the potential effects of drinking bleach even if there was no SARS-COV2 in this world would be and then weigh the potential effects of a COVID-19 infection and weigh the options. This is, what I assumed, were the responsibilites of an adult - a process to make rational decisions instead of being spoonfed and told what to do like one would a child. As I clarified elsewhere on this thread, the point I was making wasn't "liars, cranks and con artists don't exist, and no one gets to decide otherwise." It was "liars, cranks and con artists do exist, and we need to empower people to decide which is which by letting them practise." Yes, being an adult means having the freedom to drink alcohol and drive a car instead of waiting for a bus or a parent to come pick me up. It also means having the responsibilities of making my own decisions instead of waiting for someone else to do it for me. What's the expectation - that if the decision making authority makes a wrong decision that kills me, I can then blame them and collect damages? That's crazy talk - for one, I will be dead already!
- dpbriggs 6y ago
  I don't think it is good form to copy/paste this comment to each reply, even if they're making mostly redundant replies. You may want to link to your original comment instead.
  - zionic 6y ago
    The above comment being [dead] seriously concerns me.
    - slavik81 6y ago
      Why? You can turn on showdead in your profile and see for yourself that it's a duplicate post. Here's an index of them: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22961683 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22961683
      - Noumenon72 6y ago
        If YouTube had a showdead feature I would be greatly assuaged. I can't think of a reasonable way they could implement vouching, though.
lern_too_spel 6y ago
> It's that YouTube is making it so that the WHO can never be wrong No, it isn't. The title does not match the policy.
moosey 6y ago
> Mankind improves because systems become big, rigid, and unable to evolve. People come along and point that out, suggesting various theories about how those systems got that way, the reasons why they are wrong, and offering suggestions for improvement. Actually, this sounds like "Institutional Sclerosis", which is actually one of the main reasons that nations fail - some structure becomes more important than the welfare of society, be it a leader, some entity (like the military) or great collection of power by few people. This is exactly the situation that we see today that makes our society unable to evolve, and will guarantee the current slide continues.

subhobroto 6y ago

I am noticing, increasingly in the country I live in - the U.S., an extremely concerning attitude towards love for censorship. More concerning is that the proponents have "good intentions" at heart. It's almost as if the concept of freedom is not understood. Freedom is not free. Freedom has a price, often a heavy price that one has to pay for it. The fact that we are not children anymore who desparately need oversight and constant handholding, seems to be an alien concept. "Oh! What do you do about those YouTUbe videos that tell you to drink bleach because it saves you from SARS-COV2!" Well, I watch that video and research what the potential effects of drinking bleach even if there was no SARS-COV2 in this world would be and then weigh the potential effects of a COVID-19 infection and weigh the options. This is, what I assumed, were the responsibilites of an adult - a process to make rational decisions instead of being spoonfed and told what to do like one would a child. As I clarified elsewhere on this thread, the point I was making wasn't "liars, cranks and con artists don't exist, and no one gets to decide otherwise." It was "liars, cranks and con artists do exist, and we need to empower people to decide which is which by letting them practise." Yes, being an adult means having the freedom to drink alcohol and drive a car instead of waiting for a bus or a parent to come pick me up. It also means having the responsibilities of making my own decisions instead of waiting for someone else to do it for me. What's the expectation - that if the decision making authority makes a wrong decision that kills me, I can then blame them and collect damages? That's crazy talk - for one, I will be dead already!

dpbriggs 6y ago
I don't think it is good form to copy/paste this comment to each reply, even if they're making mostly redundant replies. You may want to link to your original comment instead.
- zionic 6y ago
  The above comment being [dead] seriously concerns me.
  - slavik81 6y ago
    Why? You can turn on showdead in your profile and see for yourself that it's a duplicate post. Here's an index of them: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22961683 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22961683
    - Noumenon72 6y ago
      If YouTube had a showdead feature I would be greatly assuaged. I can't think of a reasonable way they could implement vouching, though.

lern_too_spel 6y ago

> It's that YouTube is making it so that the WHO can never be wrong No, it isn't. The title does not match the policy.

moosey 6y ago

> Mankind improves because systems become big, rigid, and unable to evolve. People come along and point that out, suggesting various theories about how those systems got that way, the reasons why they are wrong, and offering suggestions for improvement. Actually, this sounds like "Institutional Sclerosis", which is actually one of the main reasons that nations fail - some structure becomes more important than the welfare of society, be it a leader, some entity (like the military) or great collection of power by few people. This is exactly the situation that we see today that makes our society unable to evolve, and will guarantee the current slide continues.