Online activists are silencing us, scientists say • Hacker News Board

Re: Online activists are silencing us, scientists say

#121

Post by Zelphyr » Wed, Mar 13, 2019, 2:35 PM UTC

alexandercrohde wrote: post #109

I'm not seeing anybody else suggest what seems to me to be the obvious solution: opt out of twitter (which seems like a self-abuse platform) and filter your email. Part of why communication works is because we can't hear everybody's opinion on everything. People earn the right to our ear through networking and earning our company. Twitter undoing this is not progress.

Very much this. The reason why we're all so overwhelmed by the online and media vitriol is those platforms have the ability to push the negative content straight to us. And they do so because they know it'll get our attention.

So... the answer, for me at least, is to turn them off. I deleted my Facebook and Twitter accounts. I don't watch, read, or listen to news.

"How then do you stay informed?" you may be asking. Well, I didn't delete my family or friends and they will often bring up topics that are of interest to me. It's about to snow a lot where I live. I heard about it first from my friends and then made the conscious decision to read more about it online so I could know and be prepared.

Sure, I also get the occasional bullshit political vitriol but they're quickly realizing how ineffective that is with me because I either unceremoniously change the subject or walk away from them when they start that nonsense.

Re: Online activists are silencing us, scientists say

#122

Post by drm237 » Wed, Mar 13, 2019, 2:35 PM UTC

alexandercrohde wrote: post #109

I'm not seeing anybody else suggest what seems to me to be the obvious solution: opt out of twitter (which seems like a self-abuse platform) and filter your email. Part of why communication works is because we can't hear everybody's opinion on everything. People earn the right to our ear through networking and earning our company. Twitter undoing this is not progress.

When people call your place of business and complain to your boss about your methods and mental state, when they lobby the government to open investigations into your research under the accusation of child abuse, and when they use every available method to discredit your life's work, I don't think that simply opting-out of Twitter is likely to make a meaningful difference unfortunately.

Re: Online activists are silencing us, scientists say

#123

Post by rangersanger » Wed, Mar 13, 2019, 2:35 PM UTC

alexandercrohde wrote: post #109

I'm not seeing anybody else suggest what seems to me to be the obvious solution: opt out of twitter (which seems like a self-abuse platform) and filter your email. Part of why communication works is because we can't hear everybody's opinion on everything. People earn the right to our ear through networking and earning our company. Twitter undoing this is not progress.

Another reason communication works is mutability. Personal and popular opinion changes over time. We're (and especially young people) not adapted to have everything we say or do kept on record for eternity. We've done a good job of messing that up too.

Re: Online activists are silencing us, scientists say

#124

Post by ergothus » Wed, Mar 13, 2019, 2:35 PM UTC

mikojan wrote: post #59

nateberkopec wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree with you, but our society has such a stigma around mental illness that if you tell someone their back pain is caused by repressed emotions, you get what happens in the article.

Maybe it's because you're not a doctor

I felt plenty of resentment and disbelief when a doctor said it. (Not about RSI in my case, but the point that "it's in your head" does not come off well.)

Re: Online activists are silencing us, scientists say

#125

Post by sidesentists » Wed, Mar 13, 2019, 2:35 PM UTC

cm2187 wrote: post #31

Another field where science is on a collision course with online (and offline) activists is genetics. As we decode and understand more of the genome, it is possible that our genes affect more of our behavior than what the partisans of tabula rasa hold for truth. And unless the political climate evolves, in a power struggle between activists and science, I wouldn't bet on the scientists.

I've done a lot of human behavioral genetics research and think there's not a lot more to say about big-picture questions regarding the genome and behavior (people can ignore what's been said but that's a different issue). Genes influence behavior, and so does environment. Both in big ways, and there's extremely complicated dynamic interactions between those systems. There can be big genetic insults to a behavioral system, and big environmental ones. Behavior is often measured crudely, especially in behavioral genetic studies, due to practical constraints, so distinctions that people here might care about don't get made in such studies often. There are a ton of details to flesh out, but I don't think people are going to find genes influence our behavior more than what's been documented. It's just not supported by the evidence -- and people have looked.

Also, even beyond behavior genetics, as neuroscience and genetics research progresses even further, we're going to have to face a bigger question, which is what to do about the fact we can actually intervene to influence behavior even in the face of congenital attributes. Let's say trait X is 80% heritable (they're often not, more like 50%), but you can use CRISPR-esque techniques with viruses, etc., whatever, to change the genome at any age. Think about the ethical and political issues surrounding that. When you can play God, you have the responsibilities of God too; there will be no excuses for altruistic intervention by society.

I'm happy about this article because I've also done research on psychosomatic issues, for lack of a better way of putting it, and this field is really mischaracterized and there is a lot of mob behavior against scientists.

Re: Online activists are silencing us, scientists say

#126

Post by rangersanger » Wed, Mar 13, 2019, 2:36 PM UTC

malvosenior wrote: post #116

alexandercrohde wrote: post #109

I'm not seeing anybody else suggest what seems to me to be the obvious solution: opt out of twitter (which seems like a self-abuse platform) and filter your email. Part of why communication works is because we can't hear everybody's opinion on everything. People earn the right to our ear through networking and earning our company. Twitter undoing this is not progress.

These activists will find your place of employment and take it up with them. You can ignore Twitter but they will find you.

Sure, but that's been going on forever. There's a difference between activists that are motivated enough to show up at your workplace, and those who are willing to daylights out of you.

Re: Online activists are silencing us, scientists say

#127

Post by nabnob » Wed, Mar 13, 2019, 2:36 PM UTC

This is also happening with research on detransition -

>Bath Spa University is conducting an internal inquiry into claims that it turned down an application for research on gender reassignment reversal because it was “potentially politically incorrect” and would attract criticism on social media.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/sep/25/bath-spa-u...

Re: Online activists are silencing us, scientists say

#128

Post by m23khan » Wed, Mar 13, 2019, 2:37 PM UTC

Over the last 100 years or so, we have gone from having Philosophers who were the thought leaders (and shapers) for the masses to legion of online warriors.

Re: Online activists are silencing us, scientists say

#129

Post by mr_overalls » Wed, Mar 13, 2019, 2:37 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #36

cm2187 wrote: post #31

Another field where science is on a collision course with online (and offline) activists is genetics. As we decode and understand more of the genome, it is possible that our genes affect more of our behavior than what the partisans of tabula rasa hold for truth. And unless the political climate evolves, in a power struggle between activists and science, I wouldn't bet on the scientists.

> As we decode and understand more of the genome, it is possible that our genes affect more of our behavior than what the partisans of the tabula rasa hold for truth What “partisans of the tabula rasa”? Activists of both the left and right seem more likely to be partisans of genetic determinism, though of which aspects of intellect, identity, and behavior varies between them.

Steven Pinker wrote a book literally titled "The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature," in which he makes a case against tabula rasa models in the social sciences, arguing that human behavior is substantially shaped by evolutionary psychological adaptations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blank_Slate

Re: Online activists are silencing us, scientists say

#130

Post by dfxm12 » Wed, Mar 13, 2019, 2:37 PM UTC

alexandercrohde wrote: post #109

I'm not seeing anybody else suggest what seems to me to be the obvious solution: opt out of twitter (which seems like a self-abuse platform) and filter your email. Part of why communication works is because we can't hear everybody's opinion on everything. People earn the right to our ear through networking and earning our company. Twitter undoing this is not progress.

Then the question becomes whether or not research underwriters are letting these tweets affect research funding. Hopefully they aren't.