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Why should regular people trust the Bay Area perspective on what counts as "fact-free ranting"? Tech has no legitimate authority to decide what is true. The min
by quotemstr 6y ago
Why should regular people trust the Bay Area perspective on what counts as "fact-free ranting"? Tech has no legitimate authority to decide what is true. The mindset and moral system that's overwhelmingly dominant in tech is abhorrent to much of the rest of the country and the world. Why should this prominent but fringe Bay Area mentality dominate?
It's simply not tech's place to be making these calls. It's arrogance and hubris and it's going to lead to a backlash.
- drchopchop 6y agoWho, then, decides what is true? Random YouTube commenters? Joe Rogan? Rush Limbaugh? The QAnon Twitter-sphere? Perhaps we can just vote on whether gravity exists.
- quotemstr 6y agoWhy does anyone need to decide what is true? Each person can decide for himself in his own heart what he believes. We reach consensus through discussion. There is never, not once, in any situation whatsoever a justification for forcing a particular perspective on the public instead of letting the marketplace of ideas function and find the truth organically. This idea that certain ideas are dangerous and must be suppressed is the mark of every insecure tyranny. Secure beliefs don't need to be propped up with censorship, and a belief isn't secure, it's because it's just not adequately backed up by facts.
- drchopchop 6y agoThe marketplace is broken. A non-trivial amount of people believe the earth is flat. People are becoming immune to fact-based evidence, because they get to immerse themselves in an alternate universe which tells them that they're right. Soon the ramifications won't be restricted to people shooting up pizza parlors.
- quotemstr 6y agoThe marketplace is not broken merely because one party's goods aren't selling. If I make scratchy toilet paper and people don't buy it, it's my fault, not the market's. The fact is that the media elite have little credibility these days among the general public, their wares suck, and people are investigating alternatives. The solution isn't censorship. It's becoming more credible.
- thelastwave 6y agoBut all the little monkeys don't understand science.
- cpursley 6y ago> The solution isn't censorship. It's becoming more credible. This is great. Is it a quote?
- quotemstr 6y agoNo. I wrote it just now.
- status_quo69 6y agoWhy should credibility matter? That is to say, how can the average person know that what they're reading is credible or not to make that determination and say "oh, CNN reported this and it's credible! Must mean that CNN is becoming more credible and I should watch it more because they have a better product" rather than "CNN is reporting this but it doesn't line up with what I want to believe, they must be wrong and not credible". Your metaphor doesn't make sense in a world where news stories are looked at skin deep, where someone doesn't even know that the toilet paper is scratchy it just _looks_ scratchy from the label or uncle Joe told me that it must be scratchy because it's made by Proctor & Gamble.
- rayiner 6y agoCredibility matters, because people really do want to base their opinions on facts. CNN existed for two decades before Fox News got popular. That wasn't the case because everyone agreed all the time back then. It was because the media respected its role in society and at least tried to be objective.
- brentm 6y agoThe problem really is that many people know the truth but they choose the truth that feels right.
- macspoofing 6y ago>Who, then, decides what is true? Let me decide for me. I'm not outsourcing thinking to YouTube interns.
- djsumdog 6y agoThe people. They should watch all of it, and decide for themselves. What's wrong with Rogan? His podcast is incredible. Let's listen to everything. Hell, let's go outside and talk to each other again! This continual lockdown has deeply hurt our ability to actually communicate with one another in any meaningful way. We're viewing the world through a straw.
- systemvoltage 6y agoIndividuals do not have the capacity to inspect facts. Do you inspect how the cake flour met the FDA standards? You trust authority, in this case, the FDA + Store Owner + Distributor + Manufacturer. This is so ridiculous. I think you mean we need to have the information so if an individual wants to verify, they can and if they can spend the energy and rigor to know the research/data. Please stop requiring individuals to verify truth. Truth has always been escorted by authorities with checks and balances. Reputable media is an authority of similar civic responsibility. Next time you buy a measuring tape, you're gonna sound ridiculous to ask for a NIST certificate at Home Depot.
- esja 6y agoHow should we decide whether to believe your comment? By appeal to some authority?
- systemvoltage 6y agoDo you trust your doctor? Do you consider the court as a misplaced authority? They make judgements, often nuances of interpretation based on their moral compass - they arbitrage truth from application of laws against evidence. In many cases, there is subjective interpretation and the "spirit of the law".
- the_optimist 6y ago"Truth has always been escorted by authorities with checks and balances." This statement stands in direct opposition to the primary founding principals of liberal democracy.
- rat87 6y agoMost of the media isn't located in Silicon Valley It is techs responsibility to moderate the forums they operate