5 ms·

> Are we sure that it is not the other way around? Didn't social platforms created or increased polarization? The process of polarization (in the US) started d

> Are we sure that it is not the other way around? Didn't social platforms created or increased polarization? The process of polarization (in the US) started decades ago: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_We%27re_Polarized https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_We%27re_Polarized In fact it seems that people were always polarized, it's just that the political parties (R & D in the US) didn't really bother sorting themselves on topics until the 1960s: even in the 1970s and early 1980s it was somewhat common to vote for (e.g.) an R president but a D representative (or vice versa). Straight-through one-party voting didn't really become the majority until the late-1980s and 1990s. There's a chapter or two in the above book describing psychology studies showing that humans form tribes 'spontaneously' for the most arbitrary of reasons. "Us versus them" seems to be baked into the structure of humans.

r721 4y ago
Scott Alexander's review is worth reading to get a summary of this book: https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/book-review-why-were-polarized https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/book-review-why-were-p...
raxxorraxor 4y ago
I think political parties only later began astroturfing on social media and split users in camps. Formerly content on reddit in default subreddits often had low quality, but you still got some nice topics here and there. Now it is a propaganda hellhole that is completely in the hands of pretty polarized users. > "Us versus them" seems to be baked into the structure of humans. Not quite, but one of the most effective temptations one can offer is giving people a moral excuse to hate others. Best when see as those as responsible for all evil in the world. It feels good to judge, it distracts from your own faults, flaws, insecurities, fears and problems. This is pretty blatant and has become far, far worse than the formerly perhaps populist content on reddit. We especially see this on political topics, but also the pandemic as an example.
- throw0101a 4y ago
  > I think political parties only later began astroturfing on social media and split users in camps. The splitting into camps (in the US) based on particular topics started much earlier than social media: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy > Not quite, but one of the most effective temptations one can offer is giving people a moral excuse to hate others. The psychology studies referenced in the book show us-versus-them / in/out-group mentality without getting in moral questions or political topics.
somenameforme 4y ago
It's quite interesting that the USSR collapsed in 1991, which removed the biggest external "us vs them" actor. But on the other hand there are also countless other factors that are going to affect society at scale: rise internet, rise of pharmaceutical psychotropics, surge in obesity, surge in autism, declines in testosterone, apparent reversal of Flynn effect, and more. With so many things happening it all feels like a Rorschach test when trying to piece together anything like a meaningful hypothesis.

r721 4y ago

Scott Alexander's review is worth reading to get a summary of this book: https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/book-review-why-were-polarized https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/book-review-why-were-p...

raxxorraxor 4y ago

I think political parties only later began astroturfing on social media and split users in camps. Formerly content on reddit in default subreddits often had low quality, but you still got some nice topics here and there. Now it is a propaganda hellhole that is completely in the hands of pretty polarized users. > "Us versus them" seems to be baked into the structure of humans. Not quite, but one of the most effective temptations one can offer is giving people a moral excuse to hate others. Best when see as those as responsible for all evil in the world. It feels good to judge, it distracts from your own faults, flaws, insecurities, fears and problems. This is pretty blatant and has become far, far worse than the formerly perhaps populist content on reddit. We especially see this on political topics, but also the pandemic as an example.

throw0101a 4y ago
> I think political parties only later began astroturfing on social media and split users in camps. The splitting into camps (in the US) based on particular topics started much earlier than social media: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy > Not quite, but one of the most effective temptations one can offer is giving people a moral excuse to hate others. The psychology studies referenced in the book show us-versus-them / in/out-group mentality without getting in moral questions or political topics.

somenameforme 4y ago

It's quite interesting that the USSR collapsed in 1991, which removed the biggest external "us vs them" actor. But on the other hand there are also countless other factors that are going to affect society at scale: rise internet, rise of pharmaceutical psychotropics, surge in obesity, surge in autism, declines in testosterone, apparent reversal of Flynn effect, and more. With so many things happening it all feels like a Rorschach test when trying to piece together anything like a meaningful hypothesis.