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"For example, the paper says that tech companies have “fumbled their way through the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, unable to stem the ‘infodemic’ of misinformat
by incrudible 5y ago
"For example, the paper says that tech companies have “fumbled their way through the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, unable to stem the ‘infodemic’ of misinformation” that has hindered widespread acceptance of masks and vaccines"
The numbers on masks and vaccines show that acceptance is widespread. What are we looking for here, approval rates to rival Kim Jong Un? The worst thing that could happen to what little is left of social cohesion is an even stricter attempt at controlling information.
Sure, some information shared on social media is misinformation. Some information coming from mainstream media is misinformation, too. In some cases, the authorities will spread misinformation. After all, some of the "evidence" used to argue that masks are ineffective came from the CDC itself.
With the politicization of everything, even facts can not be considered neutral anymore. For every verifiable fact, there's a set of other verifiable facts that may be omitted to achieve the desired effect. Fact-checks are used for propaganda. When consuming information, always keep your salt dispenser at hand.
- LarryEt 5y agoIt seems many people have a completely unscientific view of reality in that they have absolute certainty in what they believe to be true. I think there are people who are looking for North Korea level approval ratings on things. If you have zero uncertainty in what you think is true then anything contradictory is naturally "misinformation".
- anigbrowl 5y agoIf you wanna go around arguing the Earth is flat, you need to have something more persuasive than 'do the research.' Not that you personally believe in a flat earth, but it's a good example of why we shouldn't treat epistemological uncertainty as the starting point; there is so much evidence for Earth being round and so little offered in favor of it being flat that its roundness should be treated as a fact unless extraordinary new evidence to the contrary is produced. If someone comes along insisting on its flatness without overcoming that bar, then it's OK to treat them as either a fool or a troll and reject their opinions.
- incrudible 5y agoDo you believe this is an appropriate analogy, given our very limited understanding of the COVID situation? If so, I would implore you to ponder the shape of the surface that we inhabit without the hindsight of 1000 years of R&D.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- anigbrowl 5y agoI'm responding to a general point of the grandparent post; we are not talking about the specifics of one area of scientific inquiry.
- twirligigue 5y agoYes, and as much as I dislike political correctness, I sometimes wonder if it's a response, perhaps even a necessary response, to the accelerating politicisation and polarisation brought on by the web. If all events and even facts must be framed according to a simplifying narrative then I wonder if the human mind/brain is doing something similar in order to operate stably? This could be the origin of the ego -- a set of unacknowledged fears and desires which shape a personal story or set of goals through which we attempt to organise our lives.