Anyway, that was my only writing that really went viral, and it was not about a person. It was about a corporation, a device, and a set of security policies.
Anyway, I've written incendiary things, informative things, and I guess some bad things.
I now understand the basic math behind "stochastic gradient descent." Maybe after some practice, I can help.
I wouldn't put it down to some moral failing of humanity. The problem is more of a systemic one than a fundamental one.. I think.
The way we use our phones/computers, our time and such... it adds up to a system where decisions are instant and reflexive. It adds up to a medium, with all its trappings.
Yet a large deal of my millennial colleagues are the most progressively scientific, rejecting religion, embracing global warming legislation, very strongly against anti-vax movements. How many people really read the newspaper back in the day? Every period piece shows the adult male reading the paper. No one else. Do you think 26 year olds back then just read the news all the time and now it's different and no one does?
> So reporters have responded with tweets and instant feedback on anything that's happening.
It has more to do with managers and companies pushing reporters and journalists to feed page views. That's it. It's not reporters responding to the end user. It's reporters responding to the fact they don't have good jobs anymore and have to generate ad revenue.
Instant mass media has shown us that people want to consume media about other real people -- that they admire in some fashion -- going through life. Not reporting, explanation, facts, or science.
So reporters have responded with tweets and instant feedback on anything that's happening. Many times even when nothing is happening, they know they have to put out some kind of personal emotional response to keep the audience.
Newspaper and in-depth reporting worked for the most part because nobody really cared about the author. They cared about the material. That's flipped upside down now. The material doesn't matter as much as the author. Even the reall good occasional long-form material you might find is all geared to get you into a personal, minute-by-minute "relationship" with the author. To become part of the tribe.