We should not be drawn into the false choice between revolution and evolution, but rather, we should crave the Cambrian Explosion, whose basic force was evolution and whose result was revolution.
You'd think the invention of the internet would've triggered a cambrian explosion of new ideas, but almost all of the political content still seems to take place on the same left-right spectrum of small reforms versus the absence of any formal system. Instead, the internet triggered a cambrian explosion of pornography.
Yes, and a Cambrian Explosion of disinformation. It remains an open question whether the Internet can ever be altered to allow for the growth of healthy new ideas.
Maybe I should've said "disinformation" instead of "pornography". I was just thinking that most of the disinformation on the internet falls into the same few categories (climate denial, creationism, etc.) whereas pornography is designed to appeal to a wide variety of lifestyles and tastes.
Also, there's not much censorship on the internet and there are ways around censorship when it does occur. Anyone can make their own blog or website so in that sense it's decentralized, but the problem is what the amoral algorithms decide to put on the front page.
I think there are some modest reforms that could go a long way towards improving the Internet. One step would simply be to bring back ordinary libel laws, treating the owners of domains as publishers. If someone wants to write "Hillary Clinton is running a child sex ring from a pizza shop" then it should be easier for Clinton to file a libel suit against that person. This isn't censorship, this is just old fashion libel law, of the type we've had for centuries. Making it easier to enforce would be a positive step.
You'd think the invention of the internet would've triggered a cambrian explosion of new ideas, but almost all of the political content still seems to take place on the same left-right spectrum of small reforms versus the absence of any formal system. Instead, the internet triggered a cambrian explosion of pornography.
Yes, and a Cambrian Explosion of disinformation. It remains an open question whether the Internet can ever be altered to allow for the growth of healthy new ideas.
Maybe I should've said "disinformation" instead of "pornography". I was just thinking that most of the disinformation on the internet falls into the same few categories (climate denial, creationism, etc.) whereas pornography is designed to appeal to a wide variety of lifestyles and tastes.
Also, there's not much censorship on the internet and there are ways around censorship when it does occur. Anyone can make their own blog or website so in that sense it's decentralized, but the problem is what the amoral algorithms decide to put on the front page.
Any attempt to.change the internet without improving the media literacy skills of those who use it is doomed to fail.
I think there are some modest reforms that could go a long way towards improving the Internet. One step would simply be to bring back ordinary libel laws, treating the owners of domains as publishers. If someone wants to write "Hillary Clinton is running a child sex ring from a pizza shop" then it should be easier for Clinton to file a libel suit against that person. This isn't censorship, this is just old fashion libel law, of the type we've had for centuries. Making it easier to enforce would be a positive step.