Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Is the speech really the problem, or the echo chambers within which it is spoken?

The marketplace of ideas can't really function if people are only ever presented with a carefully tailored safe/comfortable subset of ideas.



But what’s the solution then? “We are going to forcibly expose you to speech you’d rather not see, for the greater good” is no less dystopian than just banning people.


In the old days of the Internet, you carefully selected the newsgroups and websites you wanted to read. This worked pretty well.

There were places where heated arguments about politics and religion took place, but it wasn't forced into your face as soon as you logged on. You had to choose to look for it. But if you just wanted to read about coding or sci-fi, discussions generally stayed on-topic.

We weren't in this crazy world of 'everyone's an activist'. We were in a world of 'Don't feed the trolls', and that was wise advice. Now you're essentially encouraged to bait the trolls to score 'likes' and 'karma points', bonus points for getting an opponent banned.

We can't uninvent social media, but maybe we can learn some lessons from the rather-less-destructive Internet of the past?


It's better than forcing ideological tribes of people in to their own ghettos (platforms), which create monocultural cesspits.


> The marketplace of ideas

It would be great if we had a marketplace of ideas. One where offering arsenic-laced produce got you booted from said market.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: