Re:Minnesota activist releases arrest video after manipulate...
by CamperBob2 on Friday January 23, 2026 @08:52PM
(#46740332)
It’s, in fact, very scary and it’s astounding it works at all.
It no longer does. Social media was the tipping point.
Religion wasn't enough to break democracy, newspapers weren't enough, radio wasn't enough, TV was almost enough... but now, with social media as the proverbial last straw, the bug is fully exploited, completely unfixable, and likely fatal.
Re:Minnesota activist releases arrest video after manipulate...
by idibiks on Friday January 23, 2026 @09:43PM
(#46740566)
Oh, I agree. I think it more likely than not that we have invented a combo of technologies that produce an environment in which liberal democracy cannot exist outside maybe smallish countries with tight controls on incoming media from outside (so, also fairly tight foreign capital ownership rules).
The medium is the message, and I think the “message” of the global Web + social media + (now) generative AI may not include liberal democracy.
They eventually (more or less) gave up, finding all their efforts at comfortable explanations unsupportable. Nope, it’s just luck, momentum, and the difficult of intentionally directing large chaotic systems keeping things tolerably sane. It’s, in fact, very scary and it’s astounding it works at all.