Comment by bmiller2 - Hacker Neue

bmiller2 Jan 9, 2021 parent

History doesn’t have any precedent for this. Algorithmically defined echo chambers are a new frontier for society to tackle. We’ve tried the option of waving our hands and hoping for the best, and what we got was a literal riot at the holiest of holies. Maybe it’s time for society to reject extremists on the internet, like we reject them in our local communities.

admiralspoo Jan 9, 2021

The fact the echo chambers are algorithmically determined or not is quite irrelevant -- the end result is the same -- cults. The historic precedent for minimizing bad influences of cults is decentralization and distribution so as to prevent systemic failure cascades in case where cultish behavior is endemic. This is federalism and anti-monopoly policies (for either government and private enterprise).

The solution, therefore, is that these centralized echo chambers need to be broken up into smaller pieces.

bmiller2 OP Jan 9, 2021

The end result is the same, but the mechanisms that create and persist that phenomenon are now a billion dollar industry driven by very smart people with shareholders that they answer to. The result is that the effectiveness and pertinacity of these creations far outstrip anything ever seen before in human history.

xg15 Jan 9, 2021

And yet, decentralisation and the social networks' "hands off" policies were exactly what started those cults.

Those trolls, movements and "subcultures" were not started on r/all. They came from niche subcommunities which were effectively unmoderated before they gained media attention or from 4chan and all the other -chan, -booru, etc sites which already were exactly the kind of small decentralised, free-speech-above-all-else services you're talking about.

> The historic precedent for minimizing bad influences of cults is decentralization and distribution so as to prevent systemic failure cascades in case where cultish behavior is endemic.

If this is anything more than repetition of dogma then please explain how exactly this should be applied to the current situation. What should be done?

meekmockmook Jan 9, 2021

Yes. Antitrust enforcement is key to restoring democracy. Should be Priority #1

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