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In other words, technology that makes our lives easier can be used by people we don't like to make their lives easier also.

by bhupy 6y ago

systemvoltage 6y ago
Your argument is valid, however, when it comes to social media - I really believe that the world would be a better place without social media. Compared to the downsides of Facebook, the upsides are very little. People used to connect to their loved ones through email and other means before Facebook. It has definitely brought some upsides, but the given what it did in 2016 election (cambridge analytica), how it has sucked in a whole generation of people into constant attention seeking behavior, and ofcourse the emergence of fringe groups which had no real voice before social media. Before facebook, these groups did not have a widespread influence - they would have to recruit people in person. Your argument is totally valid - we can make knives for cooking and they can be used for killing people as well. I just feel like its more like a poison laden dagger that's masquerading as a cooking knife when it comes to social media.
- bhupy 6y ago
  But we're not talking about "social media" in broad terms, we're talking specifically about Facebook's pivot towards smaller community and group building, per: > The strategy that Facebook has been pivoting towards is in favor of smaller community building, rather than the "mass market square" approach, which is why: It's great that people have the ability to form groups with like-minded people, that's how the Internet worked before Facebook, and it sounds like there's some reversion to that. The fact that it can also be used by "fringe groups", is just another way of saying "I don't want normal people to have nice things because people I don't like also have those nice things", but the world has always worked that way (see: Nazis and the radio). Bad people have existed for forever, and it's up to the laws we make that protect life & liberty to ensure that their impact on the world is limited, not limiting our our communication tools and hope that by 2nd order effect we prevent the people we don't like from having a voice (which is itself pretty dystopian).
- erikpukinskis 6y ago
  Have you spent as much time trying to understand the upsides of social media as the downsides? How confident are you that your measure of the two is acccurate?

In other words, technology that makes our lives easier can be used by people we don't like to make their lives easier also.

by bhupy 6y ago

In other words, technology that makes our lives easier can be used by people we don't like to make their lives easier also.

systemvoltage 6y ago

Your argument is valid, however, when it comes to social media - I really believe that the world would be a better place without social media. Compared to the downsides of Facebook, the upsides are very little. People used to connect to their loved ones through email and other means before Facebook. It has definitely brought some upsides, but the given what it did in 2016 election (cambridge analytica), how it has sucked in a whole generation of people into constant attention seeking behavior, and ofcourse the emergence of fringe groups which had no real voice before social media. Before facebook, these groups did not have a widespread influence - they would have to recruit people in person. Your argument is totally valid - we can make knives for cooking and they can be used for killing people as well. I just feel like its more like a poison laden dagger that's masquerading as a cooking knife when it comes to social media.

bhupy 6y ago
But we're not talking about "social media" in broad terms, we're talking specifically about Facebook's pivot towards smaller community and group building, per: > The strategy that Facebook has been pivoting towards is in favor of smaller community building, rather than the "mass market square" approach, which is why: It's great that people have the ability to form groups with like-minded people, that's how the Internet worked before Facebook, and it sounds like there's some reversion to that. The fact that it can also be used by "fringe groups", is just another way of saying "I don't want normal people to have nice things because people I don't like also have those nice things", but the world has always worked that way (see: Nazis and the radio). Bad people have existed for forever, and it's up to the laws we make that protect life & liberty to ensure that their impact on the world is limited, not limiting our our communication tools and hope that by 2nd order effect we prevent the people we don't like from having a voice (which is itself pretty dystopian).
erikpukinskis 6y ago
Have you spent as much time trying to understand the upsides of social media as the downsides? How confident are you that your measure of the two is acccurate?