Hmm. 3 things.
1. On the balkanisation process: Yes, true, worrying, sad and not news. @slatestarcodex said everything worth saying about it in 2014:
http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/12/17/the-toxoplasma-of-rage/ …
cc @keithfrankish, @mirandachale & @GodDoesnt
This is all true, of course. But bloody hell, it's taken a lot of people a lot of years to figure it out. || Social Media Is Making Us Dumber. Here’s Exhibit A. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/11/opinion/social-media-dumber-steven-pinker.html …
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2. On making us dumber. Not necessarily. I think the discussion I'll link to below has been useful (but maybe I'm biased, because of my long rant therein!). With lots of TLC, social media can be used to better ourselves, IMO (otherwise: why are we here?).
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3. The discussion in question (links in next tweets): I think it was worth having it. The deliberate smearing of Pinker made it possible, perhaps it all happened because lots of people have more subtle (but substantial) criticism of Pinker to offer? (AKA an axe to grind?)
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3.1 Thread root. Even amongst very reasonable people, it can get relatively heated:https://twitter.com/Abebab/status/951051164879147008 …
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I don't understand why people hate Pinker so much. I've some reservations about his work, but he doesn't seem like a monster to me.
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I met him & interviewed him for my book, What Scientists Think - not in the least bit a monster. He rejects blank slate, which causes many (most?) social scientists to suffer brain leakage.
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I agree. I do think "blank slate" assumptions are nonsensical, that's why the initial clash between sys1 & 2 attitude immediately captured my interest...
End of conversation
New conversation -
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Yeah, seriously. I’m baffled by these people who are only *now* suddenly “discovering” that the internet is full of mobs of assholes & then presenting that “discovery” as if it’s insightful and/or new
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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