This is true. Censorship makes it easier for propagandists to believe their own lies. Censorship also makes it harder for us to discern truth from fiction. (didn't read the whole essay so maybe this is what it concludes) Humans have a natural capability for discernment. Critical thinking. The bullshit detector. Censorship and controlled sources of information cause us to outsource that capability to someone else. Like muscles, any capability not used eventually atrophies and we end up needing someone else to tell us truth from fiction. We end up placing our trust in some individual, group, or "the system" instead of ourselves. That can be even more dangerous that any misinformation was in the first place.
I noticed the same effects in elderly people who don't quite have dementia but their faculties are slowing down. They fall into two groups: 1) They trust everyone too much. They are easily scammed or overcharged for things because they were raised in a high trust society and aren't used to having to be cautious. OR 2) They trust nobody to the point of paranoia. It's hard to help them when they need it. They've been burned too many times and can no longer tell when something is actually true so they default to mistrust.
Not training our own sense of discernment causes the same atrophied loss of critical thinking even in the young. Some of us will place all our trust in organizations that protect us, the state, or the nice man on TV who gives us the truth and tells us who the bad guys are. The rest of us won't trust anything at all, which is probably safer in today's world but that can lead to tin-foil hat wearing and not having any rational foundation for our beliefs. The powers that be who wish to create a Brave New World prefer the first type of subject, but the second type can also serve as useful tools and convenient enemies.
So I'd argue that with ubiquitous Internet and social media, a little trolling and misinformation is a good thing. We NEED bullshit and misinformation from time to time to keep ourselves wise and trained to tell the difference between fact and fiction. Social media companies legitimately trying to "fight misinformation" actually hurt everyone in the long term.
This is true. Censorship makes it easier for propagandists to believe their own lies. Censorship also makes it harder for us to discern truth from fiction. (didn't read the whole essay so maybe this is what it concludes) Humans have a natural capability for discernment. Critical thinking. The bullshit detector. Censorship and controlled sources of information cause us to outsource that capability to someone else. Like muscles, any capability not used eventually atrophies and we end up needing someone else to tell us truth from fiction. We end up placing our trust in some individual, group, or "the system" instead of ourselves. That can be even more dangerous that any misinformation was in the first place.
I noticed the same effects in elderly people who don't quite have dementia but their faculties are slowing down. They fall into two groups: 1) They trust everyone too much. They are easily scammed or overcharged for things because they were raised in a high trust society and aren't used to having to be cautious. OR 2) They trust nobody to the point of paranoia. It's hard to help them when they need it. They've been burned too many times and can no longer tell when something is actually true so they default to mistrust.
Not training our own sense of discernment causes the same atrophied loss of critical thinking even in the young. Some of us will place all our trust in organizations that protect us, the state, or the nice man on TV who gives us the truth and tells us who the bad guys are. The rest of us won't trust anything at all, which is probably safer in today's world but that can lead to tin-foil hat wearing and not having any rational foundation for our beliefs. The powers that be who wish to create a Brave New World prefer the first type of subject, but the second type can also serve as useful tools and convenient enemies.
So I'd argue that with ubiquitous Internet and social media, a little trolling and misinformation is a good thing. We NEED bullshit and misinformation from time to time to keep ourselves wise and trained to tell the difference between fact and fiction. Social media companies legitimately trying to "fight misinformation" actually hurt everyone in the long term.
Thank you for listening to my Ted Talk.