4 ms·

Podcasts are still short form if we're talking about something as complex as "is this company ethical". Issues involving human players and disagreements over ph

Podcasts are still short form if we're talking about something as complex as "is this company ethical". Issues involving human players and disagreements over philosophy/ethics take a huge amount of information to understand at anything beyond a vibes level. You can understand almost any controversial issue better than almost everyone commenting on it by reading 1-3 books on the subject. It's becoming more of an x-factor as people get conditioned to expect everything to fit in a headline, chat response, or 10 second social media video.

empthought 6mo ago
Podcasts (and video) are very low-throughput, low-density information channels. Essays and articles are superior. To demonstrate this, you can just compare the transcript of a typical podcast — even a high-quality, well-researched one — with a typical high-quality, well-researched blog post, essay, or journalistic article.
- Capricorn2481 6mo ago
  It's odd that people don't understand this. It's not about Tiktok brain. I would rather read a book or a dense article than listen to people meander on a Podcast and pad their time.
- Insanity 6mo ago
  Sure, but the other angle is time investment. I only listen to podcasts sporadically but I can definitely see why people like it. Not as a substitute to reading but _in addition_ to reading. Listening to a podcast can be done while driving, or cooking, etc. It beats sitting in traffic and just listening to music (to some people).
  - Capricorn2481 5mo ago
    I don't think multitasking and giving some of your attention to two people talking in conversation format is a great way to get information. There's a strong argument it's a recipe for getting misinformation, because you aren't verifying a single thing they say, and you may be going off the vibes of the host. An uncritical "Wow that's crazy" from podcast hosts is really all it takes for people to believe anything. And some people are so socially isolated and exposed to so much toxicity online that just listening to two people talk like friends severely lowers their guard to misinformation.
Capricorn2481 6mo ago
There's a world of difference between a tweet and a podcast, which are designed to NOT deliver information efficiently.

empthought 6mo ago

Podcasts (and video) are very low-throughput, low-density information channels. Essays and articles are superior. To demonstrate this, you can just compare the transcript of a typical podcast — even a high-quality, well-researched one — with a typical high-quality, well-researched blog post, essay, or journalistic article.

Capricorn2481 6mo ago
It's odd that people don't understand this. It's not about Tiktok brain. I would rather read a book or a dense article than listen to people meander on a Podcast and pad their time.
Insanity 6mo ago
Sure, but the other angle is time investment. I only listen to podcasts sporadically but I can definitely see why people like it. Not as a substitute to reading but _in addition_ to reading. Listening to a podcast can be done while driving, or cooking, etc. It beats sitting in traffic and just listening to music (to some people).
- Capricorn2481 5mo ago
  I don't think multitasking and giving some of your attention to two people talking in conversation format is a great way to get information. There's a strong argument it's a recipe for getting misinformation, because you aren't verifying a single thing they say, and you may be going off the vibes of the host. An uncritical "Wow that's crazy" from podcast hosts is really all it takes for people to believe anything. And some people are so socially isolated and exposed to so much toxicity online that just listening to two people talk like friends severely lowers their guard to misinformation.

Capricorn2481 6mo ago

There's a world of difference between a tweet and a podcast, which are designed to NOT deliver information efficiently.