I appreciated this reflection and wanted to add one little nugget: one reason folks might not feel comfortable asking those questions publicly is the automatic assumption that anyone who asks questions is an enemy of the cause. there are many folks who have such entrenched beliefs, as you said, that when asking questions and clarifying sources and seeking to inform ourselves, rather than just taking the internet’s word for it, you’ve got to be prepared to defend yourself, even if you’re aligned in principle with the speaker.
Hope that makes sense. Friday afternoon and on my second coffee but it doesn’t seem to help. 😂
Great article. We have to constantly remind ourselves that our biases get in the way of understanding the truth. I really like the Bayesian reminder to think in terms of probabilities, rather than black and white.
Found an older source for the footage (I searched for "antiwar protests NYC June 1941"). Catalog entry is from 1994. Attributed to the "March of Time" newsreel series. https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn1000747
> They’re all over social media. Twitter, Instagram, Reddit. But all those posts are new.
That's been a severe problem over the past few years. Search engines are biased toward finding new stuff, and no search engine that can tell you "what search results would I have received if I had searched for this in 2013?" Tangentially related to this, I'm looking for feedback on an idea for a database and website for depositing, finding and evaluating evidence. No one has upvoted my idea and I'm wondering why. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ckcoSe3CS2n3BW3aT/what-ea-projects-could-grow-to-become-megaprojects?commentId=u7hPPF5r993iKYL5e
Excellent article and great lesson on how not to be carried away with the madness of social media that only feeds our worst instincts, our confirmation biases and other thought traps we humans so easily fall for.
I appreciated this reflection and wanted to add one little nugget: one reason folks might not feel comfortable asking those questions publicly is the automatic assumption that anyone who asks questions is an enemy of the cause. there are many folks who have such entrenched beliefs, as you said, that when asking questions and clarifying sources and seeking to inform ourselves, rather than just taking the internet’s word for it, you’ve got to be prepared to defend yourself, even if you’re aligned in principle with the speaker.
Hope that makes sense. Friday afternoon and on my second coffee but it doesn’t seem to help. 😂
Great article. We have to constantly remind ourselves that our biases get in the way of understanding the truth. I really like the Bayesian reminder to think in terms of probabilities, rather than black and white.
Found an older source for the footage (I searched for "antiwar protests NYC June 1941"). Catalog entry is from 1994. Attributed to the "March of Time" newsreel series. https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn1000747
> They’re all over social media. Twitter, Instagram, Reddit. But all those posts are new.
That's been a severe problem over the past few years. Search engines are biased toward finding new stuff, and no search engine that can tell you "what search results would I have received if I had searched for this in 2013?" Tangentially related to this, I'm looking for feedback on an idea for a database and website for depositing, finding and evaluating evidence. No one has upvoted my idea and I'm wondering why. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ckcoSe3CS2n3BW3aT/what-ea-projects-could-grow-to-become-megaprojects?commentId=u7hPPF5r993iKYL5e
Excellent article and great lesson on how not to be carried away with the madness of social media that only feeds our worst instincts, our confirmation biases and other thought traps we humans so easily fall for.