PJ @pj@qoto.org

Six Misconceptions About #Misinformation

1. Misinformation is just a social media problem
2. The internet is rife with misinformation
3. Falsehoods spread faster than the truth
4. People believe everything they see on the internet
5. A large number of people are misinformed
6. Misinformation has a strong influence on people’s behavior

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20563051221150412

Interesting exercise. I've got the rabbit sitting on top of a tree wrong. 9 out of 10, not bad 😎

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-15/quiz-artwork-artificial-intelligence-human-dalle-2-open-ai/101734522

The best things in #life we don’t choose — they choose us. A great love, a great calling, a great illumination — they happen unto us, like light falling upon that which is lit. We have given a name to these unbidden greatnesses — #genius, from the Latin for “spirit,” denoting the spirit of a universe we can only submit to but cannot govern.

https://www.themarginalian.org/2023/01/21/emerson-genius-shakespeare

For subjectivists #life is meaningful, they say, but its value is made by us in our minds, and subject to change over time. Landau argues that #meaning is essentially a sense of worth which we may all derive in a different way - from relationships, creativity, accomplishment in a given field, or generosity, among other possibilities

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-secret-to-a-meaningful-life-is-simpler-than-you-think

I feel something is wrong with this line of reasoning but I can't quite put my finger on it.

It has something to do with the flawed assumption that it is social media that "rips the fabric of civil society".🤔 What about the effects of the growing #inequality between the rich becoming wealthier and the poor even more impoverished?

#SocialMedia, despite all its flaws, is actually the only democratic tool able to increase global awareness about the fact that such economic inequalities, despite being a global phenomenon do not originate from some "others" (race, nation, religion), but from your very "own people".

The excerpt is from:
https://www.eurasiagroup.net/issues/top-risks-2023

Lots of interesting articles in this issue of Collective Intelligence

https://journals.sagepub.com/articles/COL

Do you agree with #Plato that

in a system where political power (‘cratos’) lies in the hands of the people (‘demos’) statecraft is not guaranteed? In fact, it is unlikely, that those best equipped to rule will get a chance to manage public affairs because the loudest voices will dominate, irrational, ill-motivated decisions will be made and the complex arena of politics is in need of careful ordering and management will turn into a crazy circus.
https://philosophynow.org/issues/101/The_Ship_of_Fools

The follow-up to this bit:

Bezos: “I’m going to space so you can go to space one day”

Me: “I don’t want to go to space. I want to go to Italy. Can you work on that?”

https://twitter.com/i/status/1473386289424650244

The exciting future of #energy is in Small Modular Reactors (SMRs)

➡️ Along with solar, wind, and water, more #diversity in the used technologies means better overall performance and #robustness.
➡️ Simpler #distribution with local clean and small-footprint #production means there is no need for long unsightly power-lines
➡️ Better #safety (smaller reactors and energy outputs means also smaller consequences of possible failure.

I'm waiting for the model below to install on my 1983 DeLorean😀:

https://spectrum.ieee.org/small-modular-reactors

Radio Paradise is having a party and you are invited:
New Year’s Eve VR Live Stream
https://radioparadise.com/blog/new-years-eve-vr-livestream

I believe none of the stated reasons for revisiting “#Darwin’sDangerousIdea” in this most-read Guardian article of 2022 will have any effect on how “#ModernSynthesis” explains #Evolution.

For example:

1️⃣ “The study of the way organisms alter their environment in order to reduce the normal pressure of natural selection – think of beavers building dams” only shows that #NaturalSelection favors beavers genetically programmed to build better dams.

2️⃣ “The Senegal bichir adapting to land in a single generation” and dung beetles growing larger wings in cold weather only show the co-producing relationship between nature and nurture and the known fact that the same set of genes (genotype) will produce slightly different phenotypes in different environments. It surely does not explain speciation.

and lastly

3️⃣ I really don’t see the difference between passing to the next generation randomly as opposed to artificially induced mutations. Natural selection will “weed out” one and the other the same way.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jun/28/do-we-need-a-new-theory-of-evolution

Just listening on
https://radioparadise.com/home
Beautifully weird

https://youtu.be/xNaDghdfo9g

I see there is a "Show replies" in the settings but it doesn't seem to work.
I see only toots that are boosted. Anyone?

I'm less interested in toots people I follow have boosted than I'm interested in some of their replies to other threads that I can find only if I go and check their profiles one by one. Is there a switch for fine tuning what appears in the timeline?

Is #Technology #ValueNeutral?

I would say YES because anything can be used either for good or for evil. Here is an interesting article that argues the opposite. Not sure how successfully though:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0162243919900965

Is there a way to include replies to others from instances I follow in my Home or/and Local timelines?

"The Many Faces of #Resilience"
by Ted G. Lewis. Very interesting article about #Complexity, Self-Organizing Criticality (#SOC), and preventing #CascadingFailures

https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2023/1/267957-the-many-faces-of-resilience/fulltext

Mobs behave nothing like flocks of birds as this article would like you to believe. Even the author had to admit it at the end of the article.

#Murmuration is the result of birds blindly following a few simple #rules without any #leader, obvious #target, or "higher" #purpose, much like in #JConway's "#GameOfLife".

On the other side, there is nothing "spontaneous" in mobs. You can always identify the lead instigator, the target and it is pretty obvious what they want.

https://www.noemamag.com/how-online-mobs-act-like-flocks-of-birds/

"Users flocking to the platform will need to shift their expectations for social media and become engaged democratic citizens in the life of their networks."
https://www.noemamag.com/mastodon-isnt-just-a-replacement-for-twitter/