News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on There is much less intellectual diversity now than there was 100 years ago.

Re:There is much less intellectual diversity now than there ... by skohan on Thursday December 24, 2020 @05:14AM (#25526342)
A decrease in intellectual diversity is a natural consiquence of faster communication and wider availability of information. 30 years ago, it was much easier to live your life without much contact to opposing viewpoints. Now if you voice your opinion online, it can be challenged instantly by people from all different backgrounds all across the globe. Of course the result of that is that more controversial viewpoints face more resistance than they did in the past.

However I do think it's worth thinking about how the structure of online communication affects idea formation and the perception of consensus. The gamification and quantization of social interactions which exists on social media platforms does have an effect on which types of ideas are mainstreamed, and which ones are marginalized, and I think it can be argued that this has not always been for the better.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:There is much less intellectual diversity now than there ... by bawolff on Thursday December 24, 2020 @05:23AM (#25526386)
I disagree. Well its true global communication can homoginize culture (i think broadcast tv especially has this affect) it's never been easier than now to form your own community.

Look at the free software movement. By mainstream standards its very radical. Do you think it would have ever been able to take hold without the instant global communication of usenet and other computer networks?

Heck people are constantly talking about how social media is full of echo chambers where people are divided into groups that all have the same opinion and never get challenged.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:There is much less intellectual diversity now than there ... by skohan on Thursday December 24, 2020 @05:26AM (#25526401)
That's a good point - it's probably a countervailing force that people who's ideas would have been "rounded off" in past generations because they could not find anyone to agree with can now find community online.

Probably it's possible for both of these things to be true.

[ Parent | on HN ]