Corona Virus Vaccine, would you take it?

[Shourty]

I haven't had a flu shot since 1975. Haven't had the flu either. Probably won't get this shot. Family will pressure me but I'm not smart enough to be concerned.

[Lune]

Getting it ASAP. FIL is high up in vaccine development, works with Fauci and has consulted on all the major vaccines, and he keeps me apprised. When these vaccines are available they will have passed phase III trials and will therefore be backed by the same scientific rigor that makes everything else, that every fucking dope in the Western World takes for granted, run. Trials have been very successful with minimal adverse events and high rates of protection.

The internet as it currently exists is the great disaster of our time; not an economic disaster, or a natural one, but an intellectual disaster. Hundreds of millions of people were given a voice along with access to the sum of human knowledge, without the cognitive skills or social structure to navigate it successfully. The result has been radicalization and thought cults, and the viral spread of misinformation, lies, propaganda, and just plain stupid opinions. The voice of experts who have actual knowledge on issues, based on factual evidence, and the surrogates who can recognize that and amplify their signal, is drowned out by millions of idiots on Facebook who think they are qualified to spread their take to anyone who will listen.

It's literally the intellectual death of a generation by memes and it's far scarier than Trump, coronavirus, 9/11, or anything else I've seen in my life. We used to have professionals who would filter fact from fiction, experts from village idiots, making sure the things we heard on a day to day basis were well curated. It wasn't perfect. There were a lot of things we didn't learn about it, and it was vulnerable to manipulation by the people who hold society's reins, but that imperfection was nothing compared to this. It's done to boomers exactly what they told us video games would do when we were kids-- rotted their fucking brains out.

It all looks pretty grim. I think the only solution is to somehow remove anonymity from the internet, tie every bit of your presence to your real life persona and credentials, and then adjust all the various levers and algorithms such that your ability to reach people with posts about topics that you really know nothing about is severely limited. That and teach children intensively how to spot misinformation. I thought it was intuitive but apparently it's not. The sad thing is I doubt any of that shit would work. I think we're just fucked and I'm just doomed to spend the rest of my life constantly running into people who tell me some of the most stupid shit I've ever heard, hot off the presses from instagram.

You can literally notice a difference over the last 10 years right here on this very board. Lots of people with lots of stupid opinions 2011-2013, but most of it was home grown and was based on actual real matters of personal philosophy, like the merits of fiscal conservatism vs. socialism, not the outright lies and conspiracy theories that dominate this board now.

[Jibartik]

I would argue it is an ecomical disaster as well.

Unless you think like ultra rich people and peasants is good economics, because that's all it created lol

The dumbness I dont think the internet is to blame, that reminds me of blaming religion for a bunch of decisions man makes.

I think you are just laying witness to how astoundingly dumb, humanity is. Not that it's making people dumber.

Every day, more people are getting online, and that just increases the ratio of dumb. So the illusion is that we're becoming dumber, but we're not, we're just giving more people the ability to do things. That increases the rate at which dumb people can do things. And that increases the rate in which you witness dumb people doing dumb things.

The equation would be like

People + more people = exponential increase in dumb.

[Jibartik]

This gif illustrates how the more people you give access to something, the more dumb people gain control of it until the not dumb people are so outnumbered they become the same as the dumb people.

It's a like law of relativity with humans.

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[Lune]

I don't think the ratio of dumb:not dumb has changed, just that the mechanisms that were in place to keep dumb people from communicating with each other and egging each other on have broken down.

More of the dumb people used to at least listen to smart people, or at least the media they had access to had a lower concentration of abject falsehoods.

[Jibartik]

at frist its just the creators and early adapters, but quickly as soon as the rest of the world discovers it, whatever it is, rockabilly, goth, whatever jesus said, you name it, the war is lost.

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[Jibartik]

Originally Posted by Lune [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I don't think the ratio of dumb:not dumb has changed, just that the mechanisms that were in place to keep dumb people from communicating with each other and egging each other on have broken down.

More of the dumb people used to at least listen to smart people, or at least the media they had access to had a lower concentration of abject falsehoods.

Hmm thats what I mean, that the ratio is the same the mechanisms allow for more people access.

So what you SEE is an increase in dumb, and the fact is that it's just you're laying witness to the same dumb we've always been.

Also you see how in the infographic, eventually the dumb just usurp the smart, and there is no smart anymore and the dumb and not dumb are both pointing to same place? That's what causes that "the dumb people used to listen to the smart people."

Now there are more people that can deliver news, so more dumb news is spread, etc. More news = More Dumb news.

More people have access to anything = more dumb takes over until it's so much bigger than the not dumb that the not dumb is just gone and only the dumb prevails.

The not dumb usually move on to some other place, mars for example. Since we've filled out the full frame of the earth, like that gif there is no room for not dumb people anymore.

[Jibartik]

It's the "this is why we cant have nice things" ratio, I think it should be called.

[imperiouskitten]

Originally Posted by Lune [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I don't think the ratio of dumb:not dumb has changed, just that the mechanisms that were in place to keep dumb people from communicating with each other and egging each other on have broken down.

More of the dumb people used to at least listen to smart people, or at least the media they had access to had a lower concentration of abject falsehoods.

As sad as I am to admit it, I agree. I see the internet not as a great liberator anymore but more like an Illuminatus might see it, like shit the training and indoctrination pipeline we designed since Greece is totally breaking down and people are coming out completely mangled.

[imperiouskitten]

Originally Posted by Trexller [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

All polls without a selection for Bush/911/Towers are null and void.