3 ms·

I'm not really sure who you're talking about here. Who is expecting you to explain things to them simply? Informative comments are always appreciated, but I'm n

by feoren 5y ago

I'm not really sure who you're talking about here. Who is expecting you to explain things to them simply? Informative comments are always appreciated, but I'm not sure why you're taking this as some personal obligation. Who is poking holes in mainstream science? I don't really see that happening in these comments.

dekhn 5y ago
I follow a lot of threads on the site, especially ones that appear to be COVID disinformation. And I see a lot of hackers asking "well, I read this <disinformation> and it made sense to me. Can you explain why it's not true?" This is pretty common. The reason I take it as obligation is that if there aren't people fighting disinformationn, the disinformation will win, because it tends to be full of simple, seductive, but. wrong ideas that naive people fall for.
- Jimmc414 5y ago
  Disinformation is defined as "false information intended to mislead". Do you think that is the intention of this author?
  - dekhn 5y ago
    Well, it's possible the author believes what they wrote in which case it would be "false information believed to be true intended to teach" but I'm pretty sure this is active misinformation. I'm not sure which particular thing public health people said that you're complaining about in the last part of the section- but I don't really think that public health leaders who communicate things which aren't 100% correct are dissemination disinformation. That's sort of a pedantic and uninteresting argument to have about the philosophical nature of information.
    - Jimmc414 5y ago
      Well, embedded within the term disinformation is an accusation, so thank you for clarifying.
    - shataraxia 5y ago
      it may be pedantic, but it's good to know that "disinformation" denotes intent & "misinformation" appears to be the word you're looking for

3 ms·

I'm not really sure who you're talking about here. Who is expecting you to explain things to them simply? Informative comments are always appreciated, but I'm n

by feoren 5y ago

dekhn 5y ago
I follow a lot of threads on the site, especially ones that appear to be COVID disinformation. And I see a lot of hackers asking "well, I read this <disinformation> and it made sense to me. Can you explain why it's not true?" This is pretty common. The reason I take it as obligation is that if there aren't people fighting disinformationn, the disinformation will win, because it tends to be full of simple, seductive, but. wrong ideas that naive people fall for.
- Jimmc414 5y ago
  Disinformation is defined as "false information intended to mislead". Do you think that is the intention of this author?
  - dekhn 5y ago
    Well, it's possible the author believes what they wrote in which case it would be "false information believed to be true intended to teach" but I'm pretty sure this is active misinformation. I'm not sure which particular thing public health people said that you're complaining about in the last part of the section- but I don't really think that public health leaders who communicate things which aren't 100% correct are dissemination disinformation. That's sort of a pedantic and uninteresting argument to have about the philosophical nature of information.
    - Jimmc414 5y ago
      Well, embedded within the term disinformation is an accusation, so thank you for clarifying.
    - shataraxia 5y ago
      it may be pedantic, but it's good to know that "disinformation" denotes intent & "misinformation" appears to be the word you're looking for