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Then again, as suggests, instead of lamenting the #EpistemicCrisis and decrying #EpistemicVandalism, maybe we should try to appreciate the upside in the end of “epistemic monoculture”?
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The only additional key point is that arguably the deepest epistemic damage which proliferating #deepfakes will produce is not that they will enable the propagation of falsehoods, but rather that they will enable the baldfaced denial of truths.
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I don’t think it will evolve this way. This is open-loop extrapolation and people are already starting to adjust responses (cf: Covington high case). Crywolf effects. When you’re conditioned to distrust a signal source you don’t just freeze in stasis. You adapt.
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The thing is, FUD created by a bad actor goes away when the bad actor leaves the scene. But FUD created by technology agency expansion is a cry wolf story with no specific untrustworthy shepherd boy for the villagers to tag. So behaviors shift.
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Older generations circle wagons around their ingroup epistemes. Younger ones adopt new mitigating behaviors that are a mix of more conservatism (default skeptics, checking up on snopes) and operating off a smaller knowledge base (Talebian strategies).
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I don’t even think there is a real epistemic crisis yet. We’re learning that we need consensus reality only in a few critical cases like vaccination where there are material consequences (loss of herd immunity) to epistemic pluralism.
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Most of the time, you don’t need a belief monopoly to act. Just enough relevant agency, and a sort of Straussian contempt for the outgroup. “I don’t have to persuade you I’m right, I just have to make sure you can’t stop me from acting or roll back my consequences”
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I’m fascinated by the possibilities of fait accompli + irreversibility action orientation over deliberation and mutual persuasion before action. I think *this* will be biggest long-term effect. The role of mutual persuasion among adversaries in collective action will diminish.
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We’ve already seen a big example. Trump doesn’t need to persuade opponents of anything, with or without deepfakes. Just roll back Obama programs and ensure his own are harder to undo. Future politicians will run this playbook better.
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