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The problem is not that to some "reality is a game", but there are a lot of people that have given up on independently verifying information they get. There alw

The problem is not that to some "reality is a game", but there are a lot of people that have given up on independently verifying information they get. There always were people like that. People that feel happy offloading their thinking process to others. Whatever others think is truth to them. I suspect in the old times those "others" were primarily friends and family, perhaps "talking heads" on TV. That was not great, but not hugely problematic. Today, for many people, their opinions are shaped by various selection of: media that always wants to drive engagement up(every story is an outrage), various commercial interest groups, foreign hostile psy-ops, domestic trolls, various genuinely troubled people. All those things masquerade as "friends" in our "customised" feed being very effective in convincing large groups of people of their bull**. Unfortunately, this may be a genuine barrier to further technological advancement of human race. If the majority of us can't tell what's real (often not because of inability, but because of mental laziness) how can we increase our connectedness even more? (with neural implants or other future gadgets).

imiric 4y ago
Correct. This fact is well known and exploited by those with the means and interest to reach a political goal, accrue wealth, and gain or stay in power, i.e. corporations, governments and advertisers. The internet is a playground for this crowd, and they couldn't have asked for a better tool. It's incredibly ironic that the same adtech and social media built by western societies, sources of so much pride and prosperity, is legally and knowingly used by both internal and external enemies to influence their governments in any way they please, without leaving any trace of who did it, or what they exactly did to begin with, since it happens on long timescales with millions of small "attacks". It's the ultimate weapon. As to how we get out of it? It's difficult putting the genie back in the bottle now. We can educate people about critical thinking and disinformation, but that will only reach those who are open to hear it. We can regulate social media platforms, but we run into a few problems: a) governments have no idea how they work or how to even begin enforcing regulation, b) corporations will never agree to self-regulate since it directly impacts their growth interests, and c) even if they do agree, it's an incredibly difficult technical challenge. I think the solution lies somewhere involving all of the above. I think we all have to live with this now, as it's only going to get worse before, and if, it gets better. Also, this is a good start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHEOGrkhDp0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHEOGrkhDp0

imiric 4y ago

Correct. This fact is well known and exploited by those with the means and interest to reach a political goal, accrue wealth, and gain or stay in power, i.e. corporations, governments and advertisers. The internet is a playground for this crowd, and they couldn't have asked for a better tool. It's incredibly ironic that the same adtech and social media built by western societies, sources of so much pride and prosperity, is legally and knowingly used by both internal and external enemies to influence their governments in any way they please, without leaving any trace of who did it, or what they exactly did to begin with, since it happens on long timescales with millions of small "attacks". It's the ultimate weapon. As to how we get out of it? It's difficult putting the genie back in the bottle now. We can educate people about critical thinking and disinformation, but that will only reach those who are open to hear it. We can regulate social media platforms, but we run into a few problems: a) governments have no idea how they work or how to even begin enforcing regulation, b) corporations will never agree to self-regulate since it directly impacts their growth interests, and c) even if they do agree, it's an incredibly difficult technical challenge. I think the solution lies somewhere involving all of the above. I think we all have to live with this now, as it's only going to get worse before, and if, it gets better. Also, this is a good start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHEOGrkhDp0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHEOGrkhDp0