4 ms·

Are there more Qanon-ers or Coursera users though? Even if the risks are overstated (which I'm not sure about) it seems like the amount of quality learning happ

Are there more Qanon-ers or Coursera users though? Even if the risks are overstated (which I'm not sure about) it seems like the amount of quality learning happening online rounds to zero. Even narrowly, I'm not sure that more true information about vaccines is spread online than false information, partly because I think it's actually pretty low amount of true information being spread. Ten years ago there was a lot of optimism that moocs we're going to bring education to the masses, make $40k/year tuition entirely obsolete, but that seems to basically have entirely failed.

stickfigure 4y ago
I think you're defining "quality learning" too narrowly. Coursera, Kahn Academy, et al are great but for real-world practical learning nothing beats the millions of videos on youtube on how to change the headlight on your 1998 Toyota Tercel or how to build a drip irrigation system or how to install DD-WRT on your old router or how to cook birria or how to operate a grigri. It's amazing living with what seems like all human knowledge on tap. We haven't quite reached the point where you can call out "Tank, I need a pilot program for a B-212 helicopter" but damn it sure gets closer every year.
- esrauch 4y ago
  Maybe I'm jaded but my understanding is that even if we broaden to "useful content" instead of "quality learning" and include things like "diy bookbinding" YouTube videos, that the amount of time spent on conspiracies, memes, celebrity gossip type content is consumed at orders of magnitude higher rate than the "useful" content even on YouTube, and then Instagram/Facebook/TikTok that divide is so wide that there probably is more consumption of TOS violating content than educational content. It's still great that useful content is there for those who want it, and arguably good that it is subsidized by the junk, but it's not like "useful content" is keeping the lights on for YouTube.
  - stickfigure 4y ago
    > it's not like "useful content" is keeping the lights on for YouTube. I still feel like you're being overly critical. There's a huge variety of content out there that appeals to a broad array of folks. "Useful" is highly subjective. I pay for Youtube premium. My qanon-espousing mother (sigh) won't even log in to youtube. I couldn't even begin to speculate which content generates the most revenue - do you have any statistics?

stickfigure 4y ago

I think you're defining "quality learning" too narrowly. Coursera, Kahn Academy, et al are great but for real-world practical learning nothing beats the millions of videos on youtube on how to change the headlight on your 1998 Toyota Tercel or how to build a drip irrigation system or how to install DD-WRT on your old router or how to cook birria or how to operate a grigri. It's amazing living with what seems like all human knowledge on tap. We haven't quite reached the point where you can call out "Tank, I need a pilot program for a B-212 helicopter" but damn it sure gets closer every year.

esrauch 4y ago
Maybe I'm jaded but my understanding is that even if we broaden to "useful content" instead of "quality learning" and include things like "diy bookbinding" YouTube videos, that the amount of time spent on conspiracies, memes, celebrity gossip type content is consumed at orders of magnitude higher rate than the "useful" content even on YouTube, and then Instagram/Facebook/TikTok that divide is so wide that there probably is more consumption of TOS violating content than educational content. It's still great that useful content is there for those who want it, and arguably good that it is subsidized by the junk, but it's not like "useful content" is keeping the lights on for YouTube.
- stickfigure 4y ago
  > it's not like "useful content" is keeping the lights on for YouTube. I still feel like you're being overly critical. There's a huge variety of content out there that appeals to a broad array of folks. "Useful" is highly subjective. I pay for Youtube premium. My qanon-espousing mother (sigh) won't even log in to youtube. I couldn't even begin to speculate which content generates the most revenue - do you have any statistics?