Some biologists and ecologists think social media is a risk to humanity
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Re: Some biologists and ecologists think social media is a risk to humanity
#2I think the global reduction in in person communication is a grave risk to humanity. We used to spend so much time together, doing things together, I’m talking in the office to the roller rink. Perhaps this just shows how old I am, but I really felt like that was better for humanity. Global communication and interaction is great and all, but I really miss sitting around the backyard with friends talking
Re: Some biologists and ecologists think social media is a risk to humanity
#3[deleted]
Re: Some biologists and ecologists think social media is a risk to humanity
#4I think the global reduction in in person communication is a grave risk to humanity. We used to spend so much time together, doing things together, I’m talking in the office to the roller rink. Perhaps this just shows how old I am, but I really felt like that was better for humanity. Global communication and interaction is great and all, but I really miss sitting around the backyard with friends talking
There's no reason to not do that; in fact its easier than ever to invite and plan things.
Re: Some biologists and ecologists think social media is a risk to humanity
#5I think the global reduction in in person communication is a grave risk to humanity. We used to spend so much time together, doing things together, I’m talking in the office to the roller rink. Perhaps this just shows how old I am, but I really felt like that was better for humanity. Global communication and interaction is great and all, but I really miss sitting around the backyard with friends talking
I think that ubiquitous global communication is the "Great Filter" that prevents intelligent civilizations from colonizing the universe. Before any intelligent species can hope to tackle a problem like that, they invent something like the internet. And once they've invented an internet, they become addicted to low latency communication and will never stray far from it, at least not in significant numbers. Even one year of latency becomes utterly intolerable once an intelligent species has been using an internet for a few generations.
Re: Some biologists and ecologists think social media is a risk to humanity
#6[deleted]
Re: Some biologists and ecologists think social media is a risk to humanity
#7I think the global reduction in in person communication is a grave risk to humanity. We used to spend so much time together, doing things together, I’m talking in the office to the roller rink. Perhaps this just shows how old I am, but I really felt like that was better for humanity. Global communication and interaction is great and all, but I really miss sitting around the backyard with friends talking
I think that ubiquitous global communication is the "Great Filter" that prevents intelligent civilizations from colonizing the universe. Before any intelligent species can hope to tackle a problem like that, they invent something like the internet. And once they've invented an internet, they become addicted to low latency communication and will never stray far from it, at least not in significant numbers. Even one ye…
Humans will never make it, but our computers will. The internet is the singularity now.
Re: Some biologists and ecologists think social media is a risk to humanity
#8"For example, the paper says that tech companies have “fumbled their way through the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, unable to stem the ‘infodemic’ of misinformation” that has hindered widespread acceptance of masks and vaccines"
The numbers on masks and vaccines show that acceptance is widespread. What are we looking for here, approval rates to rival Kim Jong Un? The worst thing that could happen to what little is left of social cohesion is an even stricter attempt at controlling information.
Sure, some information shared on social media is misinformation. Some information coming from mainstream media is misinformation, too. In some cases, the authorities will spread misinformation. After all, some of the "evidence" used to argue that masks are ineffective came from the CDC itself.
With the politicization of everything, even facts can not be considered neutral anymore. For every verifiable fact, there's a set of other verifiable facts that may be omitted to achieve the desired effect. Fact-checks are used for propaganda. When consuming information, always keep your salt dispenser at hand.
Re: Some biologists and ecologists think social media is a risk to humanity
#9I think the global reduction in in person communication is a grave risk to humanity. We used to spend so much time together, doing things together, I’m talking in the office to the roller rink. Perhaps this just shows how old I am, but I really felt like that was better for humanity. Global communication and interaction is great and all, but I really miss sitting around the backyard with friends talking
There's no reason to not do that; in fact its easier than ever to invite and plan things.
yeah I don't get that point, its not like people are deciding to scroll facebook instead of going to their friends bbq. maybe you could make the point that people pick activites for how good of a social media post it would make.
But that's not even what this article is about, its discussing the spread of misinformation and social media being full of low information content.
Re: Some biologists and ecologists think social media is a risk to humanity
#10I think the global reduction in in person communication is a grave risk to humanity. We used to spend so much time together, doing things together, I’m talking in the office to the roller rink. Perhaps this just shows how old I am, but I really felt like that was better for humanity. Global communication and interaction is great and all, but I really miss sitting around the backyard with friends talking
I think that ubiquitous global communication is the "Great Filter" that prevents intelligent civilizations from colonizing the universe. Before any intelligent species can hope to tackle a problem like that, they invent something like the internet. And once they've invented an internet, they become addicted to low latency communication and will never stray far from it, at least not in significant numbers. Even one ye…
> at least not in significant numbers
That's ok. Insignificant numbers are more than enough to colonize an entire galaxy on geologic timescales.
The thing about the "Great Filter" is that it is great. If you can even imagine an exception for your candidate filter, then it's not great enough.