> Imagine how fucked up your in-person social groups/interactions would be if everyone, for YEARS was for some reason only capable of boosting/encouraging one a

> Imagine how fucked up your in-person social groups/interactions would be if everyone, for YEARS was for some reason only capable of boosting/encouraging one another, with no reflexive negative responses -- no frowns, no eyebrow emoting, no body language. I think you are really overstating how bad the interactions would be. Phone calls show no body language, and though it might hinder a deeper intuitive understanding of someone's emotional responses, I would say that phone communication is far from "fucked up". When someone disagrees with what I am saying over a phone call, they can verbally express their disapproval if no body language is available. In fact, verbal disapproval is preferred so that they can express nuance. When someone disagrees with what I am saying on the internet, they can express their disapproval in a reply if no downvotes are available. In fact, a comment reply is preferred so that they can express nuance. For many millennia, there has been understandable evolutionary pressure to ostracize people who look and act different from those in your hunter-gatherer tribe, as you may not be able to trust them with your tools, food, and other tribe members. That evolutionary pressure is antithetical to the optimal functioning of a modern globalized society comprised of law and social safety nets, and valuing freedom of expression. The most important signal nowadays is whether information is well-researched, not whether people agree with it. If not kept tightly in check, voting systems tend to devolve into surfacing the most popular opinions rather than the most useful or even the most true. For example, some of the most important information I read on the internet fifteen years ago was the stuff that was heavily downvoted back then, in particular, controversial fringe stuff related to medicine and finance. Fifteen years later it's finally entering the mainstream and being upvoted, but I've had access to the information this whole time in small part because I set Reddit not to collapse downvoted comments by default.