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> Filtering out the bad from the good is going to be very important if we don’t want to accidentally lose such minor marbles as our democracies, our health and

> Filtering out the bad from the good is going to be very important if we don’t want to accidentally lose such minor marbles as our democracies, our health and our safety. I really think that a better solution to this problem is to fix the shortcomings of our democratic systems. The majority of people don't believe that 5G towers cause COVID-19, or that 9/11 was an inside job. A stable democracy should be resilient enough to withstand a small number of wrong people. But that's not the case for the US. The election result for the entire country (of 330 million people!) can be flipped by a few tens of thousands of voters in the right electorates. I recognize that this is going to be a hard problem to fix. But I do believe it would be easier than trying to reverse the laws of economics that drive social media companies to do the things they do.

burlesona 6y ago
I have wondered how much less (if any) this is a problem in Democracies with Parliamentary systems, particularly any that don't use "first past the post" voting. Anyone from outside the US have insight on that to share?
bmitc 6y ago
I agree we need to shore up the democratic systems. However, I think you are greatly underestimating the amount of propaganda that is fed to a huge amount of people in the U.S. who lap everything up. I feel people sweeping it under the rug are part of the problem. And I think you are also underestimating the amount of people who have extremely strong nationalistic and even white supremist attitudes and seek to spread them. The U.S. is a very big place and many of these people hide in plain site, just waiting for their opportunity for people like Trump or Stephen Miller to get power. I've experienced it from both educated and non-educated, rich and poor. I grew up in a rural, predominately white area. I know these people and how they think, and it's scary. Social media acts as a medium for people to transmit these ideas at a speed and power not known before. We need to address both our democratic and communication systems.

burlesona 6y ago

I have wondered how much less (if any) this is a problem in Democracies with Parliamentary systems, particularly any that don't use "first past the post" voting. Anyone from outside the US have insight on that to share?

bmitc 6y ago

I agree we need to shore up the democratic systems. However, I think you are greatly underestimating the amount of propaganda that is fed to a huge amount of people in the U.S. who lap everything up. I feel people sweeping it under the rug are part of the problem. And I think you are also underestimating the amount of people who have extremely strong nationalistic and even white supremist attitudes and seek to spread them. The U.S. is a very big place and many of these people hide in plain site, just waiting for their opportunity for people like Trump or Stephen Miller to get power. I've experienced it from both educated and non-educated, rich and poor. I grew up in a rural, predominately white area. I know these people and how they think, and it's scary. Social media acts as a medium for people to transmit these ideas at a speed and power not known before. We need to address both our democratic and communication systems.