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comment by katakowsj

I don’t believe that the U.S. tech sector is behind the curve, the typical public servants that make up our government are behind. Same with the many of the folks that are clinging to coal mines and other outmoded jobs who then rally behind Donald Trump’s pie-in-the-sky promises to foolishly return to the past.

I agree that more of us need to realize that too many of us use technology to spend our time in online echo chambers. Instead, we can use our tech to connect with people that have an entirely different set of experiences and point of view. Maybe then we can see that we all want to feel connected and valued by other people.

Do you think that this may change in time? Maybe we’ll become more tolerant by actually recognizing the limitations of online echo chambers and then get sick of them.





FirebrandRoaring  ·  2343 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    Do you think that this may change in time?

I'm certain it will change in time. Our desire to reaffirm our ideas may forever stay with us — nature is a powerful forms — but we may change our attitude to it and, with some work upon ourselves, allow it to affect us less. This would require a lot of introspection and the desire to change for a lot of people, and that would require a strong impulse.

In fiction, it often comes when our view of the world crashes into something much different from our own: say, from an alien contact. I don't think it would take such an extreme measure in real life, but the human mind is very much a physical object, in the meaning that it complies with the laws of physics. It takes either a high application of force over a short period of time or low application over a long period to achieve the same result when changing minds.

The human mind is also a pendulum by nature. A high force momentary will make a shift, but the pendulum will soon return to its resting point, with only a small deviation. The only way to ensure a long-term solution is to keep applying the pressure, however small, until the resting point is a satisfactory one.

We know how bad echo-chambering is, and if you're unsure, there are plenty of examples to base research on currently. I think people are learning about it more and more nowadays. The more we do, the more pressure we can apply against it, even if it's contrary to our nature to do so.