Re:Glass viscosity calculations debunk the myth of flow in m...
by abeppu on Thursday October 29, 2020 @11:21PM
(#24938800)
> In fact, I am quite sure, there is much less bullshit going on today, but it looks like there is more because that these are so much easier to figure out.
You're "quite sure" but how would one fact check this?
Other possibilities:
- There are more new claims being made and circulated, even if the same proportion of them initially are false, the fraction that any given person can follow up on to validate or debunk decreases, and then the share of propagated claims which is false is higher.
- The share false "facts" is higher because the ability to disseminate information has been democratized, but us amateurs have a lesser commitment to fact-checking than press professionals a generation ago.
- The share of bullshit is greater today than when you were a kid because the internet makes it financially rewarding to churn out content regardless of accuracy.
Many people talk about the problem of "fake news". What they may not realize is that falsehood have always existed, but we now have unprecedented tools to debunk them.
When I was a kid, I learned loads and loads of bullshit, the glass thing was one of it. The problem was, how could I know it was wrong? Obviously, I didn't know enough about material science to figure it out by myself, and I didn't know any material scientist. Books were mostly useless for that purpose, searching for the answers would have taken days at best, and I didn't have that much time to debunk something that insignificant. Now just searching "glass thicker at the bottom" on the web yields exactly what I need.
In fact, I am quite sure, there is much less bullshit going on today, but it looks like there is more because that these are so much easier to figure out.