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As much as I love being relatively unrestricted on the internet, is there actually any evidence that censorship decreases trust in institutions? China is notor

As much as I love being relatively unrestricted on the internet, is there actually any evidence that censorship decreases trust in institutions? China is notorious for censorship but from speaking to friends there it seems everyone is totally on board with vaccines and very few people doubt climate science. People know everything is censored but trust in science, experts etc is relatively high.

q-big 5y ago
> As much as I love being relatively unrestricted on the internet, is there actually any evidence that censorship decreases trust in institutions? > China is notorious for censorship but from speaking to friends there it seems everyone is totally on board with vaccines and very few people doubt climate science. A consideration: could it be that acts of censorship decrease trust in a society that is already divided?
- nathansherburn 5y ago
  Yeah I can definitely see how this could be true in the current political climate. More generally though, it seems to me that: 1. A minimal censorship information environment is essential to scientific progress 2. The average person lacks the epistemological foundations to handle a minimal censorship information environment If these are both true, it seems like we should either: 1. Invest massively in improving people's epistemological models or 2. Apply a censorship gradient (i.e unrestricted for the purpose of academic exploration but have minimum standards for wide-reaching, publicly shared information)
mizzao 5y ago
Maybe the known presence of censorship actually trains & increases citizens' ability to question information and search for the truth? For example, many Chinese know about Tiananmen, and the burying of the high speed rail accident, even though those were heavily censored Would be an interesting causal relationship.
- nathansherburn 5y ago
  Holy shit. I never thought of this but that's such an interesting idea.

q-big 5y ago

> As much as I love being relatively unrestricted on the internet, is there actually any evidence that censorship decreases trust in institutions? > China is notorious for censorship but from speaking to friends there it seems everyone is totally on board with vaccines and very few people doubt climate science. A consideration: could it be that acts of censorship decrease trust in a society that is already divided?

nathansherburn 5y ago
Yeah I can definitely see how this could be true in the current political climate. More generally though, it seems to me that: 1. A minimal censorship information environment is essential to scientific progress 2. The average person lacks the epistemological foundations to handle a minimal censorship information environment If these are both true, it seems like we should either: 1. Invest massively in improving people's epistemological models or 2. Apply a censorship gradient (i.e unrestricted for the purpose of academic exploration but have minimum standards for wide-reaching, publicly shared information)

mizzao 5y ago

Maybe the known presence of censorship actually trains & increases citizens' ability to question information and search for the truth? For example, many Chinese know about Tiananmen, and the burying of the high speed rail accident, even though those were heavily censored Would be an interesting causal relationship.

nathansherburn 5y ago
Holy shit. I never thought of this but that's such an interesting idea.