13 ms·

Of course this will get weaponized, if it isn't already. We've seen time and time again that a vile old tweet in the wrong hands can be very powerful, it's a t

Of course this will get weaponized, if it isn't already. We've seen time and time again that a vile old tweet in the wrong hands can be very powerful, it's a ticking time bomb. Think 5 or even 10+ years down the road, some of the kids who are edgy on twitter today might go in to politics or hold some other high level position. I don't think the current climate is going to cool down anytime soon, but maybe something like this will either lead to mutually assured destruction or, what I'm hoping for, old tweets losing their power in the long run.

showerst 6y ago
I suspect that as a larger and larger percent of the population has a cringey internet past to look back on, the power of old tweets will fade somewhat. It'll take a while though, and of course depends on how vile the past actions are.
- jelsisi 6y ago
  I feel like this is an optimistic take. I know a strong number of people that have never thought up a controversial opinion in their life. They will always have that power over the rest of us.
  - showerst 6y ago
    I see it sort of like pot smoking. In about a two decades, we went from "probably the most dangerous drug in the United States today" (Reagan), to "I smoked but I didn't inhale" (Clinton) to "Of course I inhaled, that was the point." (Obama). It's not that pot suddenly epically skyrocketed in the voting-age population, it's just that enough people either had smoked pot, been around those who did, or watched media that made light of it to realize it wasn't a 100% mark of evil.
- KiranRao0 6y ago
  I wish I held that view. My view is that the majority of people will self-censoring and be too afraid of saying anything remotely controversial.
temp8964 6y ago
But the root of the problem is not the technology, it is the people and the culture. I have no doubt, using tweets to cancel people is a deliberate tactic of the far left activists to win the culture war. And they are winning, a lot. After a few more decades, cancel the First Amendment and put people in prison bc of wrong speech is not impossible. Right now the focus is race, gender, identity politics, but it can be easily switched to economic issues. Dark days are ahead of us.
- jelsisi 6y ago
  although I hate the aspect of cancel culture where someone's tweets from several years ago are pulled up to destroy their career, I think a lot of the stuff around race, gender, ect. is headed in the right direction. We are at a point where hating on an group of people is simply not o.k. and I think the repercussion are fair (although it is socially acceptable right now to hate on white people, I view this as an overcorrection that will go away soon)
  - temp8964 6y ago
    So maybe send them to prison for a few months / years or fine them a few thousand dollars is even better than destroy their career? Also, how about climate deniers, people say anti-union things? They will be handled in the next round.
AzzieElbab 6y ago
check out this gentleman https://gist.github.com/travisbrown https://gist.github.com/travisbrown
- snicksnak 6y ago
  yeah, there is whole army of those brave speech police officers out there
gentleman11 6y ago
High level position? What about automated scrapers and personality algorithms selling profiles to your future employers and insurance companies 20 years later? “This person used to swear a lot, which means they are more likely to be hiding <some condition> that <the data purchaser> is concerned about.” In the gig economy, everyone is a brand that has to be built up and that can be torn down
javajosh 6y ago
On the bright side it will be an interesting way to analyze how people's views change over time, seeing how they tweet over a long period. Note that the same tool that can condemn a person can also exonerate them: if they were once upon a time filled with hate an ignorance, and then over time changed, you can show this path convincingly with a full tweet history. But yeah I hope the power to quote out of context to hurt people fades, and quickly.
- throwawayboise 6y ago
  Look at the media today. Very little is reported in full context. It's carved up, and presented in little snippets to imply something different, often with the intent to provoke outrage in the audience. No confidence that this will change; it is only going to get worse.

showerst 6y ago

I suspect that as a larger and larger percent of the population has a cringey internet past to look back on, the power of old tweets will fade somewhat. It'll take a while though, and of course depends on how vile the past actions are.

jelsisi 6y ago
I feel like this is an optimistic take. I know a strong number of people that have never thought up a controversial opinion in their life. They will always have that power over the rest of us.
- showerst 6y ago
  I see it sort of like pot smoking. In about a two decades, we went from "probably the most dangerous drug in the United States today" (Reagan), to "I smoked but I didn't inhale" (Clinton) to "Of course I inhaled, that was the point." (Obama). It's not that pot suddenly epically skyrocketed in the voting-age population, it's just that enough people either had smoked pot, been around those who did, or watched media that made light of it to realize it wasn't a 100% mark of evil.
KiranRao0 6y ago
I wish I held that view. My view is that the majority of people will self-censoring and be too afraid of saying anything remotely controversial.

temp8964 6y ago

But the root of the problem is not the technology, it is the people and the culture. I have no doubt, using tweets to cancel people is a deliberate tactic of the far left activists to win the culture war. And they are winning, a lot. After a few more decades, cancel the First Amendment and put people in prison bc of wrong speech is not impossible. Right now the focus is race, gender, identity politics, but it can be easily switched to economic issues. Dark days are ahead of us.

jelsisi 6y ago
although I hate the aspect of cancel culture where someone's tweets from several years ago are pulled up to destroy their career, I think a lot of the stuff around race, gender, ect. is headed in the right direction. We are at a point where hating on an group of people is simply not o.k. and I think the repercussion are fair (although it is socially acceptable right now to hate on white people, I view this as an overcorrection that will go away soon)
- temp8964 6y ago
  So maybe send them to prison for a few months / years or fine them a few thousand dollars is even better than destroy their career? Also, how about climate deniers, people say anti-union things? They will be handled in the next round.

AzzieElbab 6y ago

check out this gentleman https://gist.github.com/travisbrown https://gist.github.com/travisbrown

snicksnak 6y ago
yeah, there is whole army of those brave speech police officers out there

gentleman11 6y ago

High level position? What about automated scrapers and personality algorithms selling profiles to your future employers and insurance companies 20 years later? “This person used to swear a lot, which means they are more likely to be hiding <some condition> that <the data purchaser> is concerned about.” In the gig economy, everyone is a brand that has to be built up and that can be torn down

javajosh 6y ago

On the bright side it will be an interesting way to analyze how people's views change over time, seeing how they tweet over a long period. Note that the same tool that can condemn a person can also exonerate them: if they were once upon a time filled with hate an ignorance, and then over time changed, you can show this path convincingly with a full tweet history. But yeah I hope the power to quote out of context to hurt people fades, and quickly.

throwawayboise 6y ago
Look at the media today. Very little is reported in full context. It's carved up, and presented in little snippets to imply something different, often with the intent to provoke outrage in the audience. No confidence that this will change; it is only going to get worse.