But that collapse creates a choice. Either we rebuild more inclusive, democratic structures for verification, deliberation and accountability functions, or the wealthiest and most powerful will do it for us, in their own image.
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This won’t fix itself. Rebuilding an information environment that serves democracy, not just markets or ideologies, requires effort across education, media, civil society, and policy. It’s a societal task, not just a technical one.
What looks like truth-seeking is often just performance.
I would suggest what appear to be a political divide is actually semantic in nature. One side sees words as a way to seek truth in the world, while the other uses words as a way to create the world around them.
If the structures of verification and deliberation are now distributed, then the responsibility to sustain them is distributed too. That starts with embedding critical thinking, epistemic humility, and civic responsibility at every level of society.
You're right, but society has to be willing to change. I don't think the conditions are right for that, mainly because the print media are chasing outrage rather than facts. It sells. There's a *lot* of money sowing chaos and division. It's profitable for them, but hugely damaging for us & society.
This is an excellent thread. I feel all is not lost as places of education are surely still places of verification as are libraries even Wikipedia has its place?
I read your excellent thread and agree but will make a depressing point. It offers no solution beyond something must be done, there is no road map, no implementation plan
People on the left are brilliant at analysis but it really doesn't help.
He specifically calls out critical thinking skills needing to be required. Seems to me that is pretty specific. Beginning with education, teaching critical thinking, intro to logic then reinforcing across the disciplines
Eliot writes on a theoretical level and is only saying what most of us reading here already know, just in more long-winded language. However, the practical step we can all take is calling out things that we know are wrong or challenging things that seem debatable or manipulative.
Maybe that's the topic of his next thread? Not sure. I have been thinking about solutions to this problem for years and trying to find people that want to build an alternative system but 99.9% of everyone is too busy making "money" or watching sportsball.
I've a whole project based around the response, the base idea being theres actually a lot of organisations working across multiple sectors and types of activities who already work towards the VDA ideals and public engagement, even if they don't frame it in those terms.
It starts first with mapping out those organisations along 8 tracks of activity, then looking for where there's alignment and potential for collaborations that create joined up VDA functions as well as identifying where there's weaknesses.
The tendency to reject the establishment consensus to understand our world predates the internet. I remember the various obscene and racist theories to explain the AIDS outbreak you heard at work or down the pub.
I wonder if AI models hold any promise for becoming a better means of verification. A major function of AI models is that they are filters. They probably work as better governors on reasonable discourse than social media?
Current AIs rely on LLM, this means those don't care what is correct. It only cares how many resources suggest it can be an answer. Those are relying on SNS as data sources too.
So major AI techs are also against democracy, because it reinforces demagogue.
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I would suggest what appear to be a political divide is actually semantic in nature. One side sees words as a way to seek truth in the world, while the other uses words as a way to create the world around them.
@duncanweldon.bsky.social
Verification, Deliberation, Accountability flattened by Social Media and performance politicians
Truth becomes what politicians/tech bros want it to be
AI destroy our cognitive abilities
Brave New World or 1984
https://www.forkingpaths.co/p/the-death-of-the-student-essayand
The print media in UK prefer the current system
The BBC both sides everything so cannot rely on them
https://www.forkingpaths.co/p/the-death-of-the-student-essayand
People on the left are brilliant at analysis but it really doesn't help.
Sorry for being negative
I wonder if AI models hold any promise for becoming a better means of verification. A major function of AI models is that they are filters. They probably work as better governors on reasonable discourse than social media?
So major AI techs are also against democracy, because it reinforces demagogue.