Crossposted from Twitter, might not engage much with comments on LW and I may or may not moderate replies.
Hypothesis: we’re rapidly losing the cultural technology to put people into contact with new ideas/worldviews of their own volition, ie, not at the recommendation of a friend or acquaintance.
Related hypothesis: it’s easier for people to absorb & internalize a new idea/worldview when the relationship between them and the idea feels private. Ex: your friend is pushing a viewpoint onto you, and you feel some social pressure to find at least one objection.
See also “it’s difficult to make a big update when people are staring at you”. The old internet (& libraries) put people in contact with new ideas privately; the new internet puts you in contact with new ideas that your friends are peddling.
(Perhaps the shift in the internet’s memetic focus—eg from atheism in the 00′s to social justice in the 10′s—is explained in part by the older memes thriving when found privately, and the newer thriving when pushed by a friend?)
Crossposted from Twitter, might not engage much with comments on LW and I may or may not moderate replies.
Hypothesis: we’re rapidly losing the cultural technology to put people into contact with new ideas/worldviews of their own volition, ie, not at the recommendation of a friend or acquaintance.
Related hypothesis: it’s easier for people to absorb & internalize a new idea/worldview when the relationship between them and the idea feels private. Ex: your friend is pushing a viewpoint onto you, and you feel some social pressure to find at least one objection.
See also “it’s difficult to make a big update when people are staring at you”. The old internet (& libraries) put people in contact with new ideas privately; the new internet puts you in contact with new ideas that your friends are peddling.
(Perhaps the shift in the internet’s memetic focus—eg from atheism in the 00′s to social justice in the 10′s—is explained in part by the older memes thriving when found privately, and the newer thriving when pushed by a friend?)