Ask HN: How do you deal with lies on the internet? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with lies on the internet?

#11

Post by mattbrewsbytes » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 1:15 PM UTC

Read multiple sources, especially if it comes down to you making a decision on something like voting and then you should read voting history and where a candidate stands on certain policies you care about.

If you are just trying to keep yourself informed, I like NPR or BBC news websites to scan headlines. Lately I feel like the goal of being updated on "current events" is a waste of time but I keep getting pulled in.

Now when reading anything in financial news, it is basically opinion unless there are numbers there. Things like sentiment about investors and headlines like "stocks tumbled today because of XYZ..." People don't know the intent of any action on the stock market because you don't know who is doing what, unless it comes out of SEC financial disclosures. There are a lot of quarterly and annual cycles that happen with large amounts of activity because of index fund re-balancing, options expiring, etc. [0] and it feels like financial news tries to dumb everything down for some reason.

[0] https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/triplewitchinghour.asp

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with lies on the internet?

#12

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 1:15 PM UTC

bhromney wrote: post #3

This is just my opinion, and fwiw I might be totally wrong or off-base, and I am open to suggestions: Consume your news from multiple sources across political, cultural, and social spectrums. Know where each source comes from, and who is paying for it. Familiarize yourself with what are generally considered "objective" sources as well. So, in the instance of the Russia/Ukraine war, I've been using wikipedia, because…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with lies on the internet?

#13

Post by theshrike79 » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 1:15 PM UTC

I don't need to know stuff that's happening just this minute. Mostly acting on yesterday's data is just fine and usually that's more reliable than the firehose of current events.

And if you start fighting against the tide of incorrect information, remember the Bullshit Asymmetry Principle[0]: "The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude larger than is needed to produce it."

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandolini's_law

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with lies on the internet?

#14

Post by deagle50 » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 1:15 PM UTC

I'm convinced that just like we'd stretch and warm up before exercise, we need to warm up our skepticism before consuming information.

You can start by reminding your self that what you're about to read was shown to you so someone else can get more money and power.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with lies on the internet?

#15

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 1:17 PM UTC

I Ignore anybody who tells me that a free press is the enemy. I also ignore news that comes packaged with a comment section (HN is the exception).

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with lies on the internet?

#16

Post by 3pt14159 » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 1:17 PM UTC

Meet people in person that are actually working on these issues. I met Jeffery Lewis and Scott LaFoy in DC and talked with both of them about arms control and got their read on Russia and who in the west is nuanced and trustworthy. I also pull information from multiple sources. Al Jazeera, BBC, CBC, NYT, etc and I mentally keep track which voices are later proven wrong and more importantly, I keep track of which voices issue corrections. The least trustworthy journalism has no corrections, which would be preposterous. Everyone makes mistakes.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with lies on the internet?

#17

Post by pumpkinprog » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 1:18 PM UTC

Read sources with different points of view and take the average. Pretty easy with the Russia-Ukraine situation, just take 2 western or Ukrainian news sources, 2 Russian and 2 relatively unrelated (China, Africa, etc.) Same with elections (2 Dems, 2 Reps, 2-3 unrelated international). Much more difficult with COVID since nearly everybody has the same point of view, and the remaining ones are marginal. IMO, in such a situation the best option to get the truth is to wait for 2-5 years after it is finished.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with lies on the internet?

#18

Post by overthemoon » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 1:19 PM UTC

I'm an American, living in the US, and for situations like Ukraine specifically, I don't believe anything right away. War is chaotic, and social media makes it more so. It costs me nothing to reserve judgement, because nothing depends on me except that I might accidentally share false info. Better to stay quiet, think, and wait. The truth may come out eventually. No one cares if I personally think it's true, but there is some tiny bit of culpability for sharing stories that aren't true.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with lies on the internet?

#19

Post by lordgrenville » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 1:19 PM UTC

I think Julia Galef's "scout mentality" can be helpful here. Try to be aware of your biases - do you want this to be true? - and if so, be extra sceptical. Try to consider the possibility of the opposite of what you think being true - what would that look like? And try to assign percentages to your beliefs, instead of booleans. Be prepared to update your views over time as more facts emerge.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with lies on the internet?

#20

Post by analog31 » Tue, Mar 01, 2022, 1:20 PM UTC

It's hard because "everybody is lying" might be one of the lies.

My approach is slow thinking. I really don't have to form an opinion quickly on most things. If ever. I read for enjoyment. Something makes it hard to write propaganda that's actually interesting and enjoyable to read.

I've shut down the "engagement" media, even if I agree with them.