I understand if this post doesn't go over well with some people It's not intended to target anyone, and it's more of a list of a lot of my issues with what's going on in the world. This is more of the stuff I would like to write about along with my usual science related stuff, and we'll see what happens when COVID "supposedly" ends. I'd like to cover other science topics (maybe more supplements and things like that), but I'd also like to cover more culture related stuff (it's in my description).
The media has been feeding us misinformation for much longer than most people realize. It hasn't always "from the left", but it has always been a narrative that served those in power.
That's absolutely true. It's weird that if I criticize MSNBC or CNN it's suddenly assumed I watch FOX.
It's always been about what policies are being pushed and if there seems to be some ulterior motive, and for me it seems like the left are the ones that have suddenly sided with Big Pharma and Big Tech and so it's why I'm so critical of them.
But certainly the right isn't suddenly the bastion of rationale, just that they are more likely to align with some of my beliefs although I still wouldn't consider myself on the right.
That is funny, just today, a friend who has lots of so called liberal “friends” on FB, brought up all 3 points that you have mentioned in the article; Kyle apparently shot 3 black people, his possession of the weapon was illegal, and of course he crossed state borders with an illegal weapon.
Also funny enough my friend, who is not a Democrat himself, did not know that Kyle was only half white and that his dad lived in Kenosha.
All good points about seeing the world through the “race” lens. I have never considered myself white until I was told to do so five or six years ago.
It really just shows that unless you kept up with the trial you may be missing out on a lot of context. It's frustrating seeing people's critical thinking being hijacked. They just end up sounding like parrots that just repeat the same phrases over and over again without understanding what they are saying.
The whole race thing has just really bothered me. I always knew I was Asian, but now I'm expected to become "race-conscious" and I don't even know what that means! It feels like it's more fuel to push racial ideology and I'm vehemently against such a thing!
Thank you! It's a hot-button topic but I've become disenfranchised seeing how many people respond to everything going down as if they are fully aware and not actually being lied to. It's good to have discussions with people who are willing to put their guard down and allow themselves to be wrong and yet so many people are so steadfast in what they believe to be true even if the evidence proves otherwise.
It's pretty shocking. I don't watch any news and so I may be behind on a lot of information but then when I watch actual news I can't help but feel like it's all propaganda. It's not telling the news, it's using the news to spin a narrative and deceive people.
BJ Campbell over at Handwaving Freakoutery frames this misinformation as not (only) a coordinated purposeful conspiracy, but as a natural downstream mechanism of how our modern media landscape operates. Simply put, in a world built on clicks, media channels must focus their work on stories that get clicks within the echo chamber they've staked out, and this scenario creates a feedback loop that is an entity of its own, forcing channels to foment headline hysteria or to perish.
People get funneled into an echo chamber loosely supported by their own tribal priors, and everything they see is smushed through the algorithm regardless of whether it's true. In fact, sometimes there's a feedback loop that benefits from more engagement and clicks the further it is from reality.
BJ suggests that all of these false stories and bad hot takes are a direct result of this new mechanism - and even says that it might be an early example of Ray Kurzweil's singularity meshing human consciousness with advanced machine intelligence.
I believe it. I think a lot of what we are seeing is based off of the need to consume little bits instead of sitting down and spending a long time with a lot of this information. I spent my time watching Rekeita & Co's coverage of the trial, and watching 8-10 hours a day made me really realize a lot of what was wrong with the trial. But who has time for that? I either watch several hours a day or watch 5 minutes of the news?
It's the reason why I would argue a lot of what we are seeing is more Fahrenheit 451 rather than Brave New World. The oversaturation of mindless media, the dumbing down of information via little summaries or bits of books instead of full textbooks, it's all what we are heading towards and I think many people don't see how much everything is tailored towards intention.
Twitter definitely scares me, I can find myself easily being consumed by what's on there and realizing I have done nothing of substance which is horrifying.
I always find the idea of consciousness and machines interesting, although I feel like the takes seem off to me, especially when people misuse evolutionary theory to apply it to AI. I think what's more happening is that we are severely maladapted to our technology, which constantly requires our attention and hijacks many of our mental faculties. It's more the disparity between our cognition and cognitive functions and the development of technology and AI that are causing many of our problems.
Brilliant article and an enjoyable read. I think it's vital that people need to look at things more critically, and not believe the hype that's paraded about on social media and the news - but it does seem as though both those outlets easily brainwash people, and that itself is very dangerous. I stopped using social media almost entirely about 6 years ago now, as the way it operates was shady then and it sounds like things have stayed pretty much the same today.
In response to your article, I came across a group on Reddit (that's the only social media I use now) called White People Twitter. And their toxic and incorrect views on Kyle Rittenhouse, as well as countless other things makes me wonder why things like that are allowed to exist. The truth hurts, and when there's evidence to back it up then that's what should be believed - not some fantasy story fabricated in retaliation because it hurts someone's feelings.
I appreciate the rant! No need to apologize I hope other people are able to rant as well. I like hearing people's perspectives even if they disagree with mine, since it's always good to know where people are in their thought processes.
I'm trying to use Twitter to promote my Substack but I see the entirety of the "echo-chamber" in action. I followed many people that I agreed with and saw a similar hivemind, although I tended to agree with their ideas, but as soon as I stepped out it just seemed like a hot mess of incoherent, irrational takes. I can see why social media is so divisive and I keep wondering if I am using Twitter to further better discourse or if I'm helping to fan the flames and unfortunately I think it tends to lean to the latter.
Reddit is funny, it's essentially the epitome of "don't throw rocks at glass houses" and yet it's like a cul-de-sac of glass houses where every subreddit argues about the others and it's in full view of the public. I believe everyone has the right to say things, even if they are wrong, but when they aren't allowing other voices it is easy to see how it can all go wrong. Even during the beginning of the pandemic I would go onto one of the subs for COVID and what would sort of start off as good discussions about testing and the science immediately became pro-China/anti-America sentiments, and it was so weird to see a sub devoted to science collapse into political ideology.
So no worries about the rant, we all have things to rant about and it's always good to have others around to hear what they think!
The whole Rittenhouse saga was particularly egregious because a lot of the relevant video footage was out on the internet within 24 hours, so seeing people push obvious lies for over a year afterwards was next level inexcusable and appalling.
I found myself uneasy about the Stop Asian Hate type protests that happened in 2020. I was made aware of the uncomfortable and forbidden questions about race within that issue from several years before. It is an interesting place to be in as a child of Asian immigrants who has felt more and less attached to that heritage and prevalent group views.
I understand if this post doesn't go over well with some people It's not intended to target anyone, and it's more of a list of a lot of my issues with what's going on in the world. This is more of the stuff I would like to write about along with my usual science related stuff, and we'll see what happens when COVID "supposedly" ends. I'd like to cover other science topics (maybe more supplements and things like that), but I'd also like to cover more culture related stuff (it's in my description).
The media has been feeding us misinformation for much longer than most people realize. It hasn't always "from the left", but it has always been a narrative that served those in power.
That's absolutely true. It's weird that if I criticize MSNBC or CNN it's suddenly assumed I watch FOX.
It's always been about what policies are being pushed and if there seems to be some ulterior motive, and for me it seems like the left are the ones that have suddenly sided with Big Pharma and Big Tech and so it's why I'm so critical of them.
But certainly the right isn't suddenly the bastion of rationale, just that they are more likely to align with some of my beliefs although I still wouldn't consider myself on the right.
That is funny, just today, a friend who has lots of so called liberal “friends” on FB, brought up all 3 points that you have mentioned in the article; Kyle apparently shot 3 black people, his possession of the weapon was illegal, and of course he crossed state borders with an illegal weapon.
Also funny enough my friend, who is not a Democrat himself, did not know that Kyle was only half white and that his dad lived in Kenosha.
All good points about seeing the world through the “race” lens. I have never considered myself white until I was told to do so five or six years ago.
Thanks for the response.
It really just shows that unless you kept up with the trial you may be missing out on a lot of context. It's frustrating seeing people's critical thinking being hijacked. They just end up sounding like parrots that just repeat the same phrases over and over again without understanding what they are saying.
The whole race thing has just really bothered me. I always knew I was Asian, but now I'm expected to become "race-conscious" and I don't even know what that means! It feels like it's more fuel to push racial ideology and I'm vehemently against such a thing!
Wow — great article — stay strong, don’t let the bastards beat you down.
Thank you! It's a hot-button topic but I've become disenfranchised seeing how many people respond to everything going down as if they are fully aware and not actually being lied to. It's good to have discussions with people who are willing to put their guard down and allow themselves to be wrong and yet so many people are so steadfast in what they believe to be true even if the evidence proves otherwise.
There's a lot of us who are seeing the gaslighting and many of the issues you do.
It's like living in an alternative reality; the censorship of "misinformation" makes this exponentially worse.
Politicians and corporate media seem to be literally making the "truth" up as they go, without any accountability or serious questioning.
You're not alone.
It's pretty shocking. I don't watch any news and so I may be behind on a lot of information but then when I watch actual news I can't help but feel like it's all propaganda. It's not telling the news, it's using the news to spin a narrative and deceive people.
BJ Campbell over at Handwaving Freakoutery frames this misinformation as not (only) a coordinated purposeful conspiracy, but as a natural downstream mechanism of how our modern media landscape operates. Simply put, in a world built on clicks, media channels must focus their work on stories that get clicks within the echo chamber they've staked out, and this scenario creates a feedback loop that is an entity of its own, forcing channels to foment headline hysteria or to perish.
People get funneled into an echo chamber loosely supported by their own tribal priors, and everything they see is smushed through the algorithm regardless of whether it's true. In fact, sometimes there's a feedback loop that benefits from more engagement and clicks the further it is from reality.
BJ suggests that all of these false stories and bad hot takes are a direct result of this new mechanism - and even says that it might be an early example of Ray Kurzweil's singularity meshing human consciousness with advanced machine intelligence.
I believe it. I think a lot of what we are seeing is based off of the need to consume little bits instead of sitting down and spending a long time with a lot of this information. I spent my time watching Rekeita & Co's coverage of the trial, and watching 8-10 hours a day made me really realize a lot of what was wrong with the trial. But who has time for that? I either watch several hours a day or watch 5 minutes of the news?
It's the reason why I would argue a lot of what we are seeing is more Fahrenheit 451 rather than Brave New World. The oversaturation of mindless media, the dumbing down of information via little summaries or bits of books instead of full textbooks, it's all what we are heading towards and I think many people don't see how much everything is tailored towards intention.
Twitter definitely scares me, I can find myself easily being consumed by what's on there and realizing I have done nothing of substance which is horrifying.
I always find the idea of consciousness and machines interesting, although I feel like the takes seem off to me, especially when people misuse evolutionary theory to apply it to AI. I think what's more happening is that we are severely maladapted to our technology, which constantly requires our attention and hijacks many of our mental faculties. It's more the disparity between our cognition and cognitive functions and the development of technology and AI that are causing many of our problems.
Brilliant article and an enjoyable read. I think it's vital that people need to look at things more critically, and not believe the hype that's paraded about on social media and the news - but it does seem as though both those outlets easily brainwash people, and that itself is very dangerous. I stopped using social media almost entirely about 6 years ago now, as the way it operates was shady then and it sounds like things have stayed pretty much the same today.
In response to your article, I came across a group on Reddit (that's the only social media I use now) called White People Twitter. And their toxic and incorrect views on Kyle Rittenhouse, as well as countless other things makes me wonder why things like that are allowed to exist. The truth hurts, and when there's evidence to back it up then that's what should be believed - not some fantasy story fabricated in retaliation because it hurts someone's feelings.
Sorry for the rant, this article struck a nerve.
I appreciate the rant! No need to apologize I hope other people are able to rant as well. I like hearing people's perspectives even if they disagree with mine, since it's always good to know where people are in their thought processes.
I'm trying to use Twitter to promote my Substack but I see the entirety of the "echo-chamber" in action. I followed many people that I agreed with and saw a similar hivemind, although I tended to agree with their ideas, but as soon as I stepped out it just seemed like a hot mess of incoherent, irrational takes. I can see why social media is so divisive and I keep wondering if I am using Twitter to further better discourse or if I'm helping to fan the flames and unfortunately I think it tends to lean to the latter.
Reddit is funny, it's essentially the epitome of "don't throw rocks at glass houses" and yet it's like a cul-de-sac of glass houses where every subreddit argues about the others and it's in full view of the public. I believe everyone has the right to say things, even if they are wrong, but when they aren't allowing other voices it is easy to see how it can all go wrong. Even during the beginning of the pandemic I would go onto one of the subs for COVID and what would sort of start off as good discussions about testing and the science immediately became pro-China/anti-America sentiments, and it was so weird to see a sub devoted to science collapse into political ideology.
So no worries about the rant, we all have things to rant about and it's always good to have others around to hear what they think!
The whole Rittenhouse saga was particularly egregious because a lot of the relevant video footage was out on the internet within 24 hours, so seeing people push obvious lies for over a year afterwards was next level inexcusable and appalling.
I found myself uneasy about the Stop Asian Hate type protests that happened in 2020. I was made aware of the uncomfortable and forbidden questions about race within that issue from several years before. It is an interesting place to be in as a child of Asian immigrants who has felt more and less attached to that heritage and prevalent group views.