Tell HN: We write the algorithms. We need to understand propaganda
1. https://www.amazon.ca/Propaganda-Formation-Attitudes-Jacques-Ellul/dp/0394718747
2. https://www.amazon.ca/World-Will-Representation-Vol/dp/0486217612
I'm only just starting these two[1] but they've already caused a fundamental change in how I perceive propaganda and how I think about what leads a person to have distorted, clearly false views.
The first thing I've learned is that propaganda is measured. That it operates like a business where outcomes are measured and tests run on smaller populations. That most countries do it, but that the most effective propaganda is selectively highlighting the truth so that the source develops trustworthiness.
The other thing I learned is that propaganda isn't about shifting someones opinion, though that is often a useful middle step, it's about driving specific actions, like getting someone to stay home on voting day or getting someone to join the military.
I'm not advocating that all of us here go and buy the same book. What I'm trying to highlight is that propaganda is now in full force online and we're the ones (web developers, designers, data analysts, machine learning developers, sys admins) that have the most amount of power to augment our technical knowledge to push the world towards a peaceful, more prosperous future by fighting falsehood-riddled propaganda.
Lastly, if you're a reputable angel investor interested in fighting back, I'm working on a stealth[2] startup that I think will make a lot of money and really help the world. My email is in my profile.
[1] Really, Schopenhauer is probably too cerebral for most and more focused on philosophy and will not on propaganda itself, so I only really recommend the first.
[2] For obvious reasons.
It feels as if, in various fields, some kind of test is being carried out to "test the waters", to see how much shit one can get away without being called out by people..
In hollywood, this manifest itself as blockbuster movies. Superhero movies, Christopher nolan movies movies like John wick, Madmax fury road etc.
I mean look at this shot from the trailer of a war movie from Nolan
https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/5ieu3i/the_bombs_in...
And another mixup from the same movie
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3732234/One-smi...
It is unbelievable that this is from a movie from one of the biggest names in Hollywood! This is the continuation of the sound mixing issues of his previous movie..
People did point to these issues, but they gets drowned in a million apologetic voices...
In this cases, the propaganda appears in form of Hype. The hype generation machinery starts working years before the actual release of the movie.
And when it has completely run its course, what you will have is a body of people who will pay to see the movie, and - this is the important part - will be blown no matter what and will not stop talking about it. It is as if they are under some spell or something.
And no, I don't think only your average joe is susceptible for this manipulation. Even professional movie reviewers will fall for this.
In programming world, you see this happen with things like git. I am not saying Linus is running a propaganda on purpose. But may be, it just so happened because of his god like status in the minds of the people...
And I think with these recent events, we are seeing how far the rabbit hole goes....
I'm really hoping a healthy and large debate will come on over this topic, and sharing this kind of thoughts is extremely important for this.
Is it "Yes, we can!" demagogy by your book? If so it didn't rise recently (unless 10+ years are recent by your measurement).
Hackers knowing more about propaganda is a dangerous thing. It was what brought us Facebook and Google changing elections.