i really dislike the word "misinformation" / "disinformation." it's presumptuous to assert that you know what constitutes "information" and what constitutes "not information" and underhanded to make it an implicit part of the frame so it's harder to notice and object to
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it's awkward that english doesn't appear to have a word for the opposite of a lie
which is *not* a truth. it's a statement which may be true or false but which is being reported honestly in good faith
do we seriously not have a word for this? come on
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"social media should simply institute policies making it harder to spread misinformation" pretty much exactly translates to "social media should simply institute policies making it harder to spread opinions i disagree with" which is just very bad
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people who are spreading plague conspiracy theories or w/e in good faith are *trying to do it right*: they have actual opinions about important things and they are trying to improve other people's lives by telling them about it
this is normal prosocial human behavior
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the bigger problem, as i see it, is that we no longer have the luxury of being able to pretend that we agree collectively on an answer to the question "whose job is it to make sense of the world"
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whose job did it used to be? idk but if i had to bullshit about it, first the church and then TV? at some point the cover story was "scientists"
but now it's nobody's job and everybody's job. lots of people are applying for the position and it's an uncomfortable power scramble
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anyway everyone knows the real answer: it's scott alexander's job. glad he's back
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this bullshit right here
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Today we’re introducing @Birdwatch, a community-driven approach to addressing misleading information. And we want your help. (1/3)Show this thread
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lol
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ah great the twitter "birdwatch" thing is getting used to flag complaints about regulatory agencies being Slow as "Misinformed, or potentially misleading"
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Same! It’s hard to tell from within a language what the gaps are without in depth knowledge of another. I feel like maybe English has the words (see below), but maybe not to the same degree...
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Replying to @QiaochuYuan
I’d say “assertion” is a good neutral word for this; it implies a statement of truth from the perspective of the speaker, without implying truth/falsehood. “Claim” is better in certain circumstances but has connotations of skepticism, which may not always be helpful.
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Generally the idea is that a lie is ontologically pure--it doesn't matter how much poop is in a sandwich, the whole sandwich is inedible. I'd be fascinated if any other languages had this concept. German doesn't, and we've run out of languages I know. Or we could say "opinion."
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