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Humans aren’t mentally ready for an AI-saturated ‘post-truth world’

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Re: Humans aren’t mentally ready for an AI-saturated ‘post-truth world’

#461

Post by legendofbrando »

synetic wrote: post #411
carlosjobim wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This change came already with the invention of radio. We have a century of radio and TV propaganda of the absolutely vilest kind behind us already. At least now there is an exchange with the instant communications, not only one-way.

It did not already come as you say. We are in a new era. It is now very easy to target specific people over a wide geographic region and to do so cheaply. It is easy for bad actors to hone in on those susceptible to the false beliefs they peddle. Hence the rise of morons who won’t vaccinate their children. I’ve read that around 50 percent of the posts online are bot driven. Soon that percentage will be a lot bigger.…

All of these arguments center on how different now is from “past” versions of transformative technologies and ignore that to past versions of people a radio show that you could tune into that was broadcast nationally likely felt as transformative as a network that connects the globe.

You can’t measure the difference in progress from a modern vantage point.

Once upon a time large numbers of people thought we were actively being invaded by aliens because of a radio broadcast that wasn’t even deliberate manipulation. Nevertheless, we made it through.

Everything is relative.

Re: Humans aren’t mentally ready for an AI-saturated ‘post-truth world’

#462

Post by Nasrudith »

agloe_dreams wrote: post #339
legendofbrando wrote: post #326

Counter point: sure they are. Humans are highly adaptable and like other changes to information availability in the past they will adapt. This is what societal norms and cultural memes are for. “Don’t believe everything you hear” “Don’t believe what you see on TV” “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” These are all ways that the human species uses memes and cultural norms to teach ourselves how not to f…

This is a hilariously naive take. We, as humans, are well beyond being mentally ready for the internet and social media alone. Most of the key communication of the 20th Century was based on a tradition of duty and service in reporting and, generally, leadership. The Natzis of the 40s died not because the idea was 'wrong' (which it was) but because bad leadership and greed caused extinction. Before Poland, Europe was…

When have we ever been ready ahead of time for changes? How the actual hell would that even br worked towards? Readiness seems more an invocation of Xeno's Paradox engineered to halt progress.

Re: Humans aren’t mentally ready for an AI-saturated ‘post-truth world’

#465

Post by SgtBastard »

baja_blast wrote: post #249
wongarsu wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How have we done this so far? The only two answers I can come up with are A) independently verifiable facts, for example you can apply the scientific method to the hypothesis that the earth is not flat (make predictions that should follow from that, and test those experimentally); or B) data provenance. If some crackhead says that the US government is conducting brainwashing experiments you might discard that, if the…

> reputable newspaper who write about it But as for the case of the Fauci emails from FOIA requests no "reputable" newspaper reported on it. So people still to this day dismiss it since it did not come from a "reputable" source despite the fact you can confirm the provenance and authenticity of these documents by confirming with the agency that released the documents

What utter crap:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2021/ton...

Re: Humans aren’t mentally ready for an AI-saturated ‘post-truth world’

#466

Post by kwooding »

legendofbrando wrote: post #326

Counter point: sure they are. Humans are highly adaptable and like other changes to information availability in the past they will adapt. This is what societal norms and cultural memes are for. “Don’t believe everything you hear” “Don’t believe what you see on TV” “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” These are all ways that the human species uses memes and cultural norms to teach ourselves how not to f…

Absolutely. Lots of humans live in a post-truth world. They learn not to trust anything they read or hear. Think totalitarian regimes wi try tight controls over media.

A more painful and pertinent question might be: Can democracy adapt to a post-truth world, and the answer to that I fear is probably no. How can a democracy function if it’s citizenry can’t remain informed?

Re: Humans aren’t mentally ready for an AI-saturated ‘post-truth world’

#467

Post by listenallyall »

bcrl wrote: post #455
listenallyall wrote: post #452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are conflating an advertisement -- a separate category, which normal people and regulators recognize as often being deceptive and manipulative -- with "news," including statements from current and formal government officials, and even testimony in courts and congressional hearings. Advertisements are often total bullshit (and I would likely consider anything created by AI to almost certainly be), but that is an e…

Until recently, it was costly to fake a video of someone talking. Recent advances in generative AI have changed that. One definition for disinformation is "deliberately misleading or biased information; manipulated narrative or facts; propaganda". The ad I viewed meets that qualification. This was not your typical advertisement trying to persuade the viewer that their product is better than others. It used a generate…

I agree that the AI generated stuff is fucked up. What I'm pointing out is that an advertisement is expected to be biased and not necessarily tethered to "facts." It's why magazines and social media platforms require (or are supposed to) ads and paid content to be marked as such.

GM doesn't claim that Ford is spreading "disinformation" -- but newspapers, TV stations, politicians, etc do constantly claim that people with the opposite viewpoint on a variety of topics are spreading disinformation. And now, despite the 1st Amendment, even courts are enabling censorship because the censored words are "hateful" or "disinformation" or "violence."

Re: Humans aren’t mentally ready for an AI-saturated ‘post-truth world’

#468

Post by synetic »

legendofbrando wrote: post #461
synetic wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It did not already come as you say. We are in a new era. It is now very easy to target specific people over a wide geographic region and to do so cheaply. It is easy for bad actors to hone in on those susceptible to the false beliefs they peddle. Hence the rise of morons who won’t vaccinate their children. I’ve read that around 50 percent of the posts online are bot driven. Soon that percentage will be a lot bigger.…

All of these arguments center on how different now is from “past” versions of transformative technologies and ignore that to past versions of people a radio show that you could tune into that was broadcast nationally likely felt as transformative as a network that connects the globe. You can’t measure the difference in progress from a modern vantage point. Once upon a time large numbers of people thought we were acti…

Divisions in the Napoleonic wars were far more lethal than a Roman legion. A division today is many times more lethal than a Napoleonics division. A similar advancement has occurred within the realm of dissemination of propaganda but at a much shorter timeframe. In my opinion humanity is not prepared to deal with the social and psychological effects of this era of cheap, targeted, mass communication. I hope I am wrong.

Once upon a time large numbers of people thought we were actively being invaded by aliens because of a radio broadcast that wasn’t even deliberate manipulation. Nevertheless, we made it through.

This probably isn’t true. This story has persisted for decades based off of newspaper articles from decades ago. It illustrates the power of false information dissemination on readers provided that information is packaged in the right way.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/war-of-the-worlds/

Re: Humans aren’t mentally ready for an AI-saturated ‘post-truth world’

#469

Post by melagonster »

dv_dt wrote: post #399
highwaylights wrote: post #397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It feels weird that you can state something so obvious so far down a thread and it’s literally the only mention of it. We haven’t adapted successfully, we aren’t adapting successfully and we won’t adapt successfully. We were way better off before smartphones. Looking back on it now, we may have been even better off before the Internet. By any conceivable perspective you would care to measure we’re failing abysmally a…

It's difficult to separate the effects of smartphones and wildly increasing wealth inequality.

I sure it isn't fault of cellphone. seriously, some businessman/politicians is more probably culprit.

Re: Humans aren’t mentally ready for an AI-saturated ‘post-truth world’

#470

Post by sneak »

southwesterly wrote: post #443
highwaylights wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sum of all human knowledge in every pocket and all we use it for is to view fake photos of fake people living their fake lifestyles. We were gonna cure cancer and explore space. It’s shameful.

The most successful scientists, engineers, developers and designers are trying to persuade more people to press a button to buy a thing. We could be in space.

We are in space, and more of us will be each year, and it's because of internetworking and smartphones and data technology accelerating progress.
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