The appearance of numerous pieces declaring that, while there's still a way to go, FB has made great strides in handling misinformation, right after a perceived Democratic election victory, is really some impeccable timing.
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think you would be less disliked here if you spent more time thinking about ways to help the conversation around all of this stuff evolve, then just shitting on the class of people trying to make sense of it all
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I don't exactly hear lots of proposed (realistic) solutions coming from anyone. Personally, I think the Gutenberg era of Enlightenment institutions like nation-states, liberal democracy, objective truth, etc. is over. The smartphone is undoing what the printing press created.
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Either we engage in some reactionary Luddism, a real-life Butlerian Jihad, and reject virtualized identity and social media entirely. Or human culture, probably after much violence and turmoil, adapts and enters some new, hard-to-predict age.
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so your position is basically that the journalists in question are right that tech is bad (assuming you like Enlightenment values/dislike violence) but silly for thinking anyone can do anything about it?
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This is about the worst forum for this discussion, but it's what we have (speaking of deleterious social media). Globally, I think we all agree on the impact of social media, whether good/bad. The question is what exactly is wrong with it, and what (if anything) can be done.
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Among many other civilizational headwinds we face--inequality, looming automation, climate change--social media serves to exacerbate underlying problems and serve as megaphone to the worst (and rarely best) among us. Even if FB goes away tomorrow, we're in trouble.
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But leaving that aside and focusing on FB, yes, I think we often obsess over the wrong things re: FB. There have been so many headline topics in this busy FB media cycle, I almost can't keep track. First, supposedly 'micro-targeting' was the horrifying bogeyman.
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Cambridge Analytica could swing an election using provably ineffectual keyword targeting in FB, but hey 'psychometrics'. Well, where'd that story go? Targeting system is the same as before. Now it's not worth worrying about?
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It's almost like you have better things to do than be slandered in your mentions.
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Well, that. Though I think the knights would be more passive-aggressive about it, and just shit on my next book instead. They still have a certain gatekeeping power, frayed though it may be.
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Yep. Media people, in my experience, are world class at pointing out the specks in other people's eyes while ignoring the logs in their own. Bravo for this thread.
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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Society and the Spectacle?
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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