A large portion of my coworkers (due to the nature of the job, they’re probably in that weird space between family, friend, and acquaintance) fiercely endorse beliefs that I am at odds with (against gay marriage, strong religiosity, complete climate change denial, etc) but we can discuss our beliefs (for the most part; one of them insisted he would have his daughter flogged if she ‘turned gay’, and then kidnapped and sent to some less accepting society to ‘chase it out of her’) without any heated arguments. Even if we do, we still have no problems buying each other lunch the next day.
This is a wholly personal experience, since I’m used to holding contrarian views. I think it still bothers my System 1, but not enough for me to devote System 2 time to it.
What about the world at large, though?
Would an online interaction promote calm discussion, or in-person interaction?
While that dichotomy might differ in the LessWrong community due to cultural factors, I think it’s safe to say that people think the opposite is usually true for most internet interactions.
A few possibilities come to mind, in regards to possible trends. I realize that it’s a mixture. Help me out if I’ve missed something.
A) People are more belligerent online, less belligerent in person.
B) People are less belligerent online, more belligerent in person.
C) People are the same online and in the real world.
D) Online vs. real world belligerence determined strongly by culture.
Public opinion seems to favor A.
I’m having trouble finding relevant studies, because I’m not sure if data collected from the context of online sexual/nonsexual harassment is useful, here.
A large portion of my coworkers (due to the nature of the job, they’re probably in that weird space between family, friend, and acquaintance) fiercely endorse beliefs that I am at odds with (against gay marriage, strong religiosity, complete climate change denial, etc) but we can discuss our beliefs (for the most part; one of them insisted he would have his daughter flogged if she ‘turned gay’, and then kidnapped and sent to some less accepting society to ‘chase it out of her’) without any heated arguments. Even if we do, we still have no problems buying each other lunch the next day.
This is a wholly personal experience, since I’m used to holding contrarian views. I think it still bothers my System 1, but not enough for me to devote System 2 time to it.
What about the world at large, though?
Would an online interaction promote calm discussion, or in-person interaction?
While that dichotomy might differ in the LessWrong community due to cultural factors, I think it’s safe to say that people think the opposite is usually true for most internet interactions.
A few possibilities come to mind, in regards to possible trends. I realize that it’s a mixture. Help me out if I’ve missed something.
A) People are more belligerent online, less belligerent in person.
B) People are less belligerent online, more belligerent in person.
C) People are the same online and in the real world.
D) Online vs. real world belligerence determined strongly by culture.
Public opinion seems to favor A.
I’m having trouble finding relevant studies, because I’m not sure if data collected from the context of online sexual/nonsexual harassment is useful, here.