Repairing the Disinformation Superhighway 0
In an article syndicated by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, three scholars speak out on the role of “social” media in spreading mis- and disinformation, suggesting possible remedies to the flood of falsehoods pouring out of our screens. Here’s a bit of what one of them, a Michigan State professor, has to say (emphasis added); follow the link for the rest.
The bit I put in bold reinforces something I’ve observed since my earliest days participating in computer bulletin board systems and Usenet: For some reason, persons will believe unquestioningly something they read on a computer screen when they won’t believe the same thing if if happens right before their eyes.
And the reverse is also true: persons will refuse to believe something that happens before their very eyes if some rando on “social” media tells them that it didn’t happen (see the link to Dan Casey’s article in the previous post).
We are a society of stupid willing to cling to the stupid if being stupid makes us feel better, regardless of the harm it will bring in the end.
I am not sanguine.
School Daze 0
A teacher calls Sam to discuss what it’s like to be a teacher in these viral times.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
We are again reminded that a polite society is a clean society.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
Charles Blow decodes de code:
Follow the link for his reasoning.
QOTD 0
John Crawford, in the voice of Vern Hackler:
There ain’t no problems that a few boilermakers can’t solve.
Afterthought:
I drank a boilermaker once. I spent the rest of the party sitting on the floor, back propped against the wall, watching the party go by. I rather enjoyed it in a hazy kind of way, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
It’s All about the Algorithm 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Arthur Dobrin explains that algorithms are amoral. Here’ are his key point; follow the link for his reasoning.
- Machines making decisions has become commonplace.
- The choices machines make reflect the biases and values of the programmers.
- Morality is too complex to be solves by an algorithm.
- Machines can’t be any more moral than the people who program them.
Aside:
Methinks the last point goes a long way to explaining why “social” media isn’t.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
As we know, politeness takes practice.
One more time, “accidental” and “negligent” are not synonyms.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
Walter Suza muses about the Trumpettes’ abortive attempt to seize the Capitol. A snippet:
Flying that flag inside the seat of the legislative branch of the U.S. government enabled Seefried to drag all of us back to a past some would rather leave unspoken.
On our way with him to the United States’ past, we stopped briefly in 2000 when Alabama became the last state to end a law prohibiting interracial marriage.
And we didn’t stop there.
Follow the link to join Suza as he takes us with him back through that past.
Originalist Sin 0
Joe Patrice fantasizes about the possible curriculum of the Heritage Foundation’s Judicial Clerkship Training Academy.
Vaccine Nation 0
Paul Krugman makes sense of the senselessness. A snippet (emphasis in the original).
So none of this makes any sense — not, that is, unless you realize that Republican vaccine obstructionism isn’t about serving a coherent ideology, it was and is about the pursuit of power. A successful vaccination campaign would have been a win for the Biden administration, so it had to be undermined using any and every argument available.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Once again, politeness goes to for the dogs.