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4chan, reddit, and HN because they were humanity's only honest repositories. linkedin might be useful as our species' first attempt to create a simulation and t

4chan, reddit, and HN because they were humanity's only honest repositories. linkedin might be useful as our species' first attempt to create a simulation and to generate a a set of things people in an economy do. we could probably rebuild civilization just from 3blue1brown.

stonethrowaway 2y ago
Primitive Tech is more useful than 3B1B from that perspective.
- NeoTar 2y ago
  Allegedly primitive tech is at least partially fake - they use heavy equipment off screen to build their projects.
  - pavel_lishin 2y ago
    The specific youtube channel Primitive Technology [1] definitely does not. John Plant does everything as you see, although he does have the benefit of doing research - he doesn't do things as people in the past have done, but as they might have done had they known things he does. But there's no tricks and no machinery. (And of course, some of what he's able to do is dependent on his environment - the plants he uses aren't around my part of the world. But there are a lot of knock-off channels, which you're presumably referring to, where people build things that are basically mini-castles, and pools filled with water using a pipe network, etc. And those are definitely at least partially fake. https://www.youtube.com/@primitivetechnology9550 https://www.youtube.com/@primitivetechnology9550
casualbrowsing 2y ago
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mmooss 2y ago
> 4han, reddit, and HN because they were humanity's only honest repositories They are interesting, valuable records of humanity in the early 21st century, but they - and other social media - contain a higher volume of misinformation and disinformation than anything the world has seen, and I'd say a higher proportion than anything since (the Middle Ages? Hard to compare.). Think of the infinite conspiracy theories and just plain bad information on Reddit, for example.
- motohagiography 2y ago
  they were the vox populi. a lot of it was garbage, but having a mental filter for it is what set a bar. humor is a more reliable signal for truth than official consensus any day. I think they captured something essential. while you are probably sincere, when I hear terms like misinformation and disinformation these days I think, "tell me you have a received ontology without telling me you have a received ontology." that's how divided the discourse is. I'd save them because those sites were what people said when they felt they could express themselves honestly, and all gems are covered in muck, it just takes some digging and refinement.
  - mmooss 2y ago
    > when I hear terms like misinformation and disinformation these days I think, "tell me you have a received ontology without telling me you have a received ontology." I agree! That's the knee-jerk reaction from people caught up in the disinformation. There is truth, and we all have received ontologies - you've received yours from 4chan. The point of disinformation is not to persuade you about a lie, but to paralyze the public by taking away truth, discussion, consensus. You and I can't discuss any factual truth because of your ontology. > what people said when they felt they could express themselves honestly If they agreed with the 4chan (etc) received ontology. For example, what I wrote would get the same reaction you gave me, though much more aggressively and dismissively. People were only honest as far as it agreed with the ontology; beyond that they lied or went someplace else. > humor is a more reliable signal for truth than official consensus any day I'm not surprised to see that. IMHO it's nonsense rhetoric - means nothing, sounds good. Right from 4chan / reddit / etc. > I think they captured something essential. Agreed. They are special places, but not for any sort of factual truth. > they were the vox populi They are only narrow subsets of the public.
KeplerBoy 2y ago
I love 3b1b as much as the next guy, but let's not overstate its meaningfulness. It's definitely one of the best learning resources on the topics it covers, but I'd say the actual textbooks are a more valuable resource. After all his most timeless videos cover traditional calculus and linear algebra. Stuff you'd find explained in a more rigorous and confusing fashion in every tech undergrad curriculum. Also I'd be more concerned with mechanical engineering over CNNs in times of rebuilding civilization.

stonethrowaway 2y ago

Primitive Tech is more useful than 3B1B from that perspective.

NeoTar 2y ago
Allegedly primitive tech is at least partially fake - they use heavy equipment off screen to build their projects.
- pavel_lishin 2y ago
  The specific youtube channel Primitive Technology [1] definitely does not. John Plant does everything as you see, although he does have the benefit of doing research - he doesn't do things as people in the past have done, but as they might have done had they known things he does. But there's no tricks and no machinery. (And of course, some of what he's able to do is dependent on his environment - the plants he uses aren't around my part of the world. But there are a lot of knock-off channels, which you're presumably referring to, where people build things that are basically mini-castles, and pools filled with water using a pipe network, etc. And those are definitely at least partially fake. https://www.youtube.com/@primitivetechnology9550 https://www.youtube.com/@primitivetechnology9550

casualbrowsing 2y ago

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mmooss 2y ago

> 4han, reddit, and HN because they were humanity's only honest repositories They are interesting, valuable records of humanity in the early 21st century, but they - and other social media - contain a higher volume of misinformation and disinformation than anything the world has seen, and I'd say a higher proportion than anything since (the Middle Ages? Hard to compare.). Think of the infinite conspiracy theories and just plain bad information on Reddit, for example.

motohagiography 2y ago
they were the vox populi. a lot of it was garbage, but having a mental filter for it is what set a bar. humor is a more reliable signal for truth than official consensus any day. I think they captured something essential. while you are probably sincere, when I hear terms like misinformation and disinformation these days I think, "tell me you have a received ontology without telling me you have a received ontology." that's how divided the discourse is. I'd save them because those sites were what people said when they felt they could express themselves honestly, and all gems are covered in muck, it just takes some digging and refinement.
- mmooss 2y ago
  > when I hear terms like misinformation and disinformation these days I think, "tell me you have a received ontology without telling me you have a received ontology." I agree! That's the knee-jerk reaction from people caught up in the disinformation. There is truth, and we all have received ontologies - you've received yours from 4chan. The point of disinformation is not to persuade you about a lie, but to paralyze the public by taking away truth, discussion, consensus. You and I can't discuss any factual truth because of your ontology. > what people said when they felt they could express themselves honestly If they agreed with the 4chan (etc) received ontology. For example, what I wrote would get the same reaction you gave me, though much more aggressively and dismissively. People were only honest as far as it agreed with the ontology; beyond that they lied or went someplace else. > humor is a more reliable signal for truth than official consensus any day I'm not surprised to see that. IMHO it's nonsense rhetoric - means nothing, sounds good. Right from 4chan / reddit / etc. > I think they captured something essential. Agreed. They are special places, but not for any sort of factual truth. > they were the vox populi They are only narrow subsets of the public.

KeplerBoy 2y ago

I love 3b1b as much as the next guy, but let's not overstate its meaningfulness. It's definitely one of the best learning resources on the topics it covers, but I'd say the actual textbooks are a more valuable resource. After all his most timeless videos cover traditional calculus and linear algebra. Stuff you'd find explained in a more rigorous and confusing fashion in every tech undergrad curriculum. Also I'd be more concerned with mechanical engineering over CNNs in times of rebuilding civilization.