Facebook executives shut down efforts to make the site less divisive

Re:Facebook executives shut down efforts to make the site le... by BurningFrog on Tuesday May 26, 2020 @04:41PM (#23316132)

> The fact that some people hold a belief strongly is itself proof that that belief can be held, and therefore that people can be convinced to hold it.

The fact that I'm tall is proof that people can be tall. But not that you can become tall.

In general people have the opinions they need to have to feel good about themselves. That's hard to change.

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Re:Facebook executives shut down efforts to make the site le... by afthonos on Wednesday May 27, 2020 @04:17AM (#23320678)

Alright, fair point about the analogy. Still, we generally believe (perhaps incorrectly…) that people can change their minds, so I'll stick by it.

Regarding feeling good: yeah, that's a problem, and that makes it harder, no argument from me. The point I thought GGP was making (likely incorrectly; see my response to their response) was that you can't persuade people out of "genuine differences in priorities", which I think is untrue.

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Re:Facebook executives shut down efforts to make the site le... by BurningFrog on Wednesday May 27, 2020 @09:25AM (#23322769)

I'll also agree that my height analogy is overly restrictive. People can and do change their minds, though it's rarely a rational process.

The book that gave me much of my cynicism on this topic: https://www.amazon.com/Elephant-Brain-Hidden-Motives-Everyda...

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