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Something has to be done. Obvious bullshit is fooling huge chunks of the population and causing huge damage. We have always selected acceptable content and it h

Something has to be done. Obvious bullshit is fooling huge chunks of the population and causing huge damage. We have always selected acceptable content and it has usually been a positive. Schools have always picked which info to teach and what to not and that's largely a positive thing.

throwaway69123 6y ago
I will take short term damage over long term tyranny
- ed25519FUUU 6y ago
  A Samuel Adams quote posted by Naval today on twitter I’ve been thinking about: > If you love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom — go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! Feeling hungry for change, what will our generation trade in exchange for our inheritance?
  - raverbashing 6y ago
    Personal opinion: Naval is one of the most insufferable personalities on twitter, it's just vain quotes and other empty statements with vague meanings
- bleepblorp 6y ago
  Like the results of a numerical integration, the long term is the sum of all the short terms that came before it. Long term damage is the inevitable consequence of too many bad short term decisions. Poor short term leadership damages societies just as a poorly maintained codebase rots from accumulated technical debt.
xienze 6y ago
> Obvious bullshit is fooling huge chunks of the population and causing huge damage. “Obvious” is debatable. Hardly anyone watching scientific content of any kind is an expert in the subject matter. What the public has always relied on is some sort of authority figure lending credibility to some idea or news story. For instance, saying masks don’t work is “obvious” bullshit. But remember back in March? Our glorious leaders were urging us not to buy masks because they don’t work, and besides, doctors need them. Even though they don’t work. And to have argued differently at the time was “misinformation.” Now we’re trusting Facebook, Twitter, and Google to be the authority from which all truth flows.
- gizmo385 6y ago
  > But remember back in March? Our glorious leaders were urging us not to buy masks because they don’t work, and besides, doctors need them. I think this is a bit disingenuous. First of all, you're looking back with the benefit of hindsight and the knowledge of the virus that we have today. Additionally, weren't most of the recommendations around mask wearing that people not gobble up PPE because there was such a shortage of it around the country for first responders and hospital staff? Isn't that one of the primary reasons why people across the country started making homemade masks out of t-shirts and other spare cloth?
  - SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
    The benefit of a free exchange of ideas is that it allows people to originate and develop the ideas that we later recognize are correct in hindsight. The eventual move towards masks wasn't inevitable; there are some countries even today where masks aren't broadly recommended, so if Internet platforms had banned mask advocacy in March there probably would have been a lot more. (I'm not sure this is on point to Youtube's policy here, though - they say they aren't banning all vaccine skepticism, just specific categories of silly disinformation like microchips.)
    - hef19898 6y ago
      That is one big leap, assuming the WHO and other public health organizations would not have changed their minds if it wasn't for "experts" on the internet. I highly doubt that.
lopmotr 6y ago
Obvious bullshit isn't a problem unless you consider all the world's religions a problem. But if you do, then that's by far the biggest and most serious problem and YouTube really must stamp it with priority over the piddly flash-in-the-pan crackpot science and conspiracy theories.
- kaliali 6y ago
  If the stupid public can't educate themselves then let Survival of the Fittest take over.
  - andybak 6y ago
    Turns out the fittest isn't you or me but usually a gang of murderous thugs. You're not going to like the future you just wished for.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
zajio1am 6y ago
> Obvious bullshit is fooling huge chunks of the population By definition, 'Obvious bullshit' cannot fool huge chunks of the population. If some bullshit can fool a huge part of the population then it is not obvious to them.
- quotemstr 6y ago
  When people say things like "Obvious bullshit is fooling huge chunks of the population", they * mean* "views that I find disagreeable are becoming popular". Tough luck: that's how democracy works. Anyone who wants to get in the way of strangers talking to each other is someone who thinks he's your king.

throwaway69123 6y ago

I will take short term damage over long term tyranny

ed25519FUUU 6y ago
A Samuel Adams quote posted by Naval today on twitter I’ve been thinking about: > If you love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom — go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! Feeling hungry for change, what will our generation trade in exchange for our inheritance?
- raverbashing 6y ago
  Personal opinion: Naval is one of the most insufferable personalities on twitter, it's just vain quotes and other empty statements with vague meanings
bleepblorp 6y ago
Like the results of a numerical integration, the long term is the sum of all the short terms that came before it. Long term damage is the inevitable consequence of too many bad short term decisions. Poor short term leadership damages societies just as a poorly maintained codebase rots from accumulated technical debt.

xienze 6y ago

> Obvious bullshit is fooling huge chunks of the population and causing huge damage. “Obvious” is debatable. Hardly anyone watching scientific content of any kind is an expert in the subject matter. What the public has always relied on is some sort of authority figure lending credibility to some idea or news story. For instance, saying masks don’t work is “obvious” bullshit. But remember back in March? Our glorious leaders were urging us not to buy masks because they don’t work, and besides, doctors need them. Even though they don’t work. And to have argued differently at the time was “misinformation.” Now we’re trusting Facebook, Twitter, and Google to be the authority from which all truth flows.

gizmo385 6y ago
> But remember back in March? Our glorious leaders were urging us not to buy masks because they don’t work, and besides, doctors need them. I think this is a bit disingenuous. First of all, you're looking back with the benefit of hindsight and the knowledge of the virus that we have today. Additionally, weren't most of the recommendations around mask wearing that people not gobble up PPE because there was such a shortage of it around the country for first responders and hospital staff? Isn't that one of the primary reasons why people across the country started making homemade masks out of t-shirts and other spare cloth?
- SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
  The benefit of a free exchange of ideas is that it allows people to originate and develop the ideas that we later recognize are correct in hindsight. The eventual move towards masks wasn't inevitable; there are some countries even today where masks aren't broadly recommended, so if Internet platforms had banned mask advocacy in March there probably would have been a lot more. (I'm not sure this is on point to Youtube's policy here, though - they say they aren't banning all vaccine skepticism, just specific categories of silly disinformation like microchips.)
  - hef19898 6y ago
    That is one big leap, assuming the WHO and other public health organizations would not have changed their minds if it wasn't for "experts" on the internet. I highly doubt that.

lopmotr 6y ago

Obvious bullshit isn't a problem unless you consider all the world's religions a problem. But if you do, then that's by far the biggest and most serious problem and YouTube really must stamp it with priority over the piddly flash-in-the-pan crackpot science and conspiracy theories.

kaliali 6y ago
If the stupid public can't educate themselves then let Survival of the Fittest take over.
- andybak 6y ago
  Turns out the fittest isn't you or me but usually a gang of murderous thugs. You're not going to like the future you just wished for.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

zajio1am 6y ago

> Obvious bullshit is fooling huge chunks of the population By definition, 'Obvious bullshit' cannot fool huge chunks of the population. If some bullshit can fool a huge part of the population then it is not obvious to them.

quotemstr 6y ago
When people say things like "Obvious bullshit is fooling huge chunks of the population", they * mean* "views that I find disagreeable are becoming popular". Tough luck: that's how democracy works. Anyone who wants to get in the way of strangers talking to each other is someone who thinks he's your king.