I don’t really have any good ideas. As such it’s actually a bit comforting to hear I’m not alone in that. I’m not entirely pessimistic, however; it just means I can’t think of any quick fixes or short cuts. I think it’s going to take a lot of work to change the culture, and places like Lesswrong are good starting points for that.
For example, I agree that it’s probably best if we can make it okay for the public to trust experts and institutions again. However, some experts and institutions have made that really hard. And so different institutions need to put in some work and put in place routines – in many cases significant reforms – to earn back trust.
And in order to trust them, the general public needs to learn to change their idea of trust so that it makes allowances for Hanlon’s Razor (or rather Douglas Hubbard’s corollary: “Never attribute to malice or stupidity that which can be explained by moderately rational individuals following incentives in a complex system.”) I get disheartened when I see the media and its consumers act all outraged and seemingly very surprised by people being people, with flaws.
A bit ironically, considering we’re living through an age with an abundance of communication and information: Alongside institutional reforms, I think there’s a need for some really good, influential communication (infotainment?) that can reach deep into the public attitudes – beyond just college-educated elites and aspirants – and give people new, helpful perspectives. Something that can help create a common language and understanding around concepts like epistemology, public trust and verification, in much the same way the movie The Matrix gave everyone a way to think and talk about Cartesian mind-body split, without using those words (but sans the dystopian, conspiratorial, darkly revolutionary undercurrent, please). Most things I come across that seems to aspire to something like that today is typically overtly moralizing, quite condescending, overly left-leaning, and plain dumb.
But, yeah, the upshot is that I think it’s going to take a lot of hard work to change the culture to something healthier.
I think society has a long way to go before we reach workable consensus on important issues again.
That said, while I don’t have an eye on solutions, I do believe I can elaborate a bit on what caused the problem, in ways I don’t usually see discussed in public discourse. But that’s a separate topic for a separate post, in my view. I’m completely open to continuing this conversation within private messages if you like though.
Thanks. That all makes sense.
I don’t really have any good ideas. As such it’s actually a bit comforting to hear I’m not alone in that. I’m not entirely pessimistic, however; it just means I can’t think of any quick fixes or short cuts. I think it’s going to take a lot of work to change the culture, and places like Lesswrong are good starting points for that.
For example, I agree that it’s probably best if we can make it okay for the public to trust experts and institutions again. However, some experts and institutions have made that really hard. And so different institutions need to put in some work and put in place routines – in many cases significant reforms – to earn back trust.
And in order to trust them, the general public needs to learn to change their idea of trust so that it makes allowances for Hanlon’s Razor (or rather Douglas Hubbard’s corollary: “Never attribute to malice or stupidity that which can be explained by moderately rational individuals following incentives in a complex system.”) I get disheartened when I see the media and its consumers act all outraged and seemingly very surprised by people being people, with flaws.
A bit ironically, considering we’re living through an age with an abundance of communication and information: Alongside institutional reforms, I think there’s a need for some really good, influential communication (infotainment?) that can reach deep into the public attitudes – beyond just college-educated elites and aspirants – and give people new, helpful perspectives. Something that can help create a common language and understanding around concepts like epistemology, public trust and verification, in much the same way the movie The Matrix gave everyone a way to think and talk about Cartesian mind-body split, without using those words (but sans the dystopian, conspiratorial, darkly revolutionary undercurrent, please). Most things I come across that seems to aspire to something like that today is typically overtly moralizing, quite condescending, overly left-leaning, and plain dumb.
But, yeah, the upshot is that I think it’s going to take a lot of hard work to change the culture to something healthier.
Mhm, yes
I think society has a long way to go before we reach workable consensus on important issues again.
That said, while I don’t have an eye on solutions, I do believe I can elaborate a bit on what caused the problem, in ways I don’t usually see discussed in public discourse. But that’s a separate topic for a separate post, in my view. I’m completely open to continuing this conversation within private messages if you like though.