• MentalEdge
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    3 days ago

    The thing about giving everyone a megaphone, is that even when some use them to shout insane bullshit, if enough people hear it, there is inevitably a percentage who will think “yea that makes sense”.

    And now, we’ve got selective megaphones. Social media algoritms that curate our feeds for us so that people shouting insane bullshit have their content fed directly to people who believe insane bullshit. Separating the people who lie and their believers, from the people who call them out on it and bring actual logic into the discussion.

    Algoritms discourage thinking because thinking takes effort, and effort tires you out. Tiring you out would eventualmy make you log off and take a break, but algos are trained to maximize screentime, so no thinking it is.

      • MentalEdge
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        3 days ago

        I find it insulting you’d suggest I’d consider any part what that ass has said as even remotely reasonable.

        What I said is that if you say 2+2=5 to enough people, you’ll get some who will just go “ok yeah sounds right”. They’re still wrong. Two people being deluded together doesn’t make it any less delusional.

        • Boomer Humor Doomergod@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          I don’t think you think that and I apologize for any implication. I just don’t understand why other people think he’s cool because he very much is not.

          • GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip
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            3 days ago

            Think of who you thought was cool as an idiot teenager, or in general before you “knew better”.

            Now apply this to the less educated part of the population, add a lack of actual male role models to compare to and sprinkle it with a bunch of toxic traditional stereotypes how a man should be and behave.

            • Boomer Humor Doomergod@lemmy.world
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              3 days ago

              Carl Sagan. Kevin Mitnick. Douglas Adams. Aaron Barrett. Bob Villa. Sid Meier. My chemistry teacher who was nominated for a Webby.

              I was kind of a weird kid

            • IrateAnteater@sh.itjust.works
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              3 days ago

              Maybe it’s just a generational difference, but when I was a teenager, who I thought was cool was usually just band members of my favourite bands. Since social media wasn’t a thing, there was nothing they were trying to sell us other than CDs, t-shirts, and concert tickets. Even then, there was usually a mental separation between the person and the art, so when the person turned out to be a trash bag, it had very little influence on fans.

    • umbrella@lemmy.ml
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      3 days ago

      hell, algos seem to be actually pushing insane bullshit.

      its so dumb that they get to develop it in complete secret with how it works.