I think this author is pretty clear about what it means to be culpable, and why a "lifelong passion for technology" is no substitute for ethical analysis, and introspective skepticism of our enthusiasm.
I have had a lifelong passion for technology, and I am not happy or excited about the current state of the industry, nor am I doom and gloom pessimistic and advocating a Neo Luddite approach.
The author is talking about Nazis. Not just people who disagree with you. You are wrong, and I hope, as Alexis Ohanian did, that you admit the error of your ways.
The author is talking about Nazis. Not just people who disagree with you. You are wrong, and I hope, as Alexis Ohanian did, that you admit the error of your ways.
No you are wrong. Nasty people exist, you are blaming X technology for making it worse, what about mobile phones, cars, microwave ovens, shoes... where does it end, nasty people exist, stop fucking blaming technology and try to understand why they are nasty if you care.
Microwaves don’t make it easy for someone to send harassing messages to 40,000 people.
Shoes don’t make it possible for someone across the globe to send a SWAT team into your living room.
Those aren’t communication methods. That’s like asking why the waffle maker didn’t solve tuberculosis.
You have to compare communication methods, like the telephone and the post office. And notice that we have lots of rules about how and who can contact you and trying to enforce accountability. If you start sending threatening letters to the post office, they’ll work to find you. If you start making dirty calls to random strangers, you’ll be tracked down.
But Twitter and Reddit and a great many other things on the Internet don’t seem to think that’s necessary… or at least didn’t early on. They chose to ignore (or didn’t know of) how previous communication methods tried to deal with these issues.
You can only make one phone call at a time. For a VERY long time you might not have been able to call across the country let alone overseas. It would’ve cost you a lot of money to do either one. It took time to physically mail envelopes or postcards and you had to pay a fee for each one.
The Internet has removed all those barriers. It’s made harassment trivial. Without something else to keep a lid on the issue the obvious has happened: harassment has exploded compared to other media.
Honestly I’m not even talking about the effects on democracy. Just the direct effects of attacks on people and threats against them are horrible enough. Stuff that’s been going on for YEARS. Basic safety.
I’m not trying to touch the more complex and problematic issues of how social media is changing democracy in my comments here. I don’t know how we’re ever supposed to get a handle on that if we can’t even keep people vaguely safe.
I'm much more concerned with direct physical attacks in real life than remote harassment - I was bikejacked and had my motorcycle taken from me, pulled to the ground and kicked in the head a few months ago in London - and I think societal breakdown and inequality is what ultimately created the level of alienation that made that kind of attack ok for its perpetrators.
No, I am blaming certain people in positions of power for making bad decisions about designing technologies, and I am blaming certain other people in positions of power for not making better policy decisions.
I do try to understand why individual humans at work and in my neighborhood sometimes lash out with nasty remarks. I try to empathize, and give them the benefit of the doubt, as long as they aren't becoming clearly abusive.
I do not, however, tolerate Nazi sympathizers. They can go take a flying fuck at the moooooon!
A lot of people are simply not very bright (half are below 100 IQ!), or not very good at thinking. Correlation is causation, formative experiences become lifelong prejudices, and simple explanations are accepted over nuances. Solutions that promise to directly address issues are preferred over those that consider second and third order effects. And so on.
Comments
I think this author is pretty clear about what it means to be culpable, and why a "lifelong passion for technology" is no substitute for ethical analysis, and introspective skepticism of our enthusiasm.
I have had a lifelong passion for technology, and I am not happy or excited about the current state of the industry, nor am I doom and gloom pessimistic and advocating a Neo Luddite approach.
The author is talking about Nazis. Not just people who disagree with you. You are wrong, and I hope, as Alexis Ohanian did, that you admit the error of your ways.
No you are wrong. Nasty people exist, you are blaming X technology for making it worse, what about mobile phones, cars, microwave ovens, shoes... where does it end, nasty people exist, stop fucking blaming technology and try to understand why they are nasty if you care.
That’s a ridiculous argument.
Microwaves don’t make it easy for someone to send harassing messages to 40,000 people.
Shoes don’t make it possible for someone across the globe to send a SWAT team into your living room.
Those aren’t communication methods. That’s like asking why the waffle maker didn’t solve tuberculosis.
You have to compare communication methods, like the telephone and the post office. And notice that we have lots of rules about how and who can contact you and trying to enforce accountability. If you start sending threatening letters to the post office, they’ll work to find you. If you start making dirty calls to random strangers, you’ll be tracked down.
But Twitter and Reddit and a great many other things on the Internet don’t seem to think that’s necessary… or at least didn’t early on. They chose to ignore (or didn’t know of) how previous communication methods tried to deal with these issues.
You can only make one phone call at a time. For a VERY long time you might not have been able to call across the country let alone overseas. It would’ve cost you a lot of money to do either one. It took time to physically mail envelopes or postcards and you had to pay a fee for each one.
The Internet has removed all those barriers. It’s made harassment trivial. Without something else to keep a lid on the issue the obvious has happened: harassment has exploded compared to other media.
Harassment isn't the problem. The formation of groups of like-minded people in echo chambers is the issue that corrodes democracy.
Honestly I’m not even talking about the effects on democracy. Just the direct effects of attacks on people and threats against them are horrible enough. Stuff that’s been going on for YEARS. Basic safety.
I’m not trying to touch the more complex and problematic issues of how social media is changing democracy in my comments here. I don’t know how we’re ever supposed to get a handle on that if we can’t even keep people vaguely safe.
I'm much more concerned with direct physical attacks in real life than remote harassment - I was bikejacked and had my motorcycle taken from me, pulled to the ground and kicked in the head a few months ago in London - and I think societal breakdown and inequality is what ultimately created the level of alienation that made that kind of attack ok for its perpetrators.
No, I am blaming certain people in positions of power for making bad decisions about designing technologies, and I am blaming certain other people in positions of power for not making better policy decisions.
I do try to understand why individual humans at work and in my neighborhood sometimes lash out with nasty remarks. I try to empathize, and give them the benefit of the doubt, as long as they aren't becoming clearly abusive.
I do not, however, tolerate Nazi sympathizers. They can go take a flying fuck at the moooooon!
A lot of people are simply not very bright (half are below 100 IQ!), or not very good at thinking. Correlation is causation, formative experiences become lifelong prejudices, and simple explanations are accepted over nuances. Solutions that promise to directly address issues are preferred over those that consider second and third order effects. And so on.