Platform vs individual
2022-02-17
Are you ready for the truth?
Do you consider your self, well informed?
Would it be far fetch to suppose, that if we where to ask people that question, a majority would respond positively, meaning that they consider them self, to be well informed.
I would find it highly improbable, that they are all highly accurate in their self evaluation.
Based on what measurable evidences, can one make the claim! to be well informed?
Could the majority assume falsely to be better informed, then they actually are?
If that is the case, we should all try to be more modest, and not look down on those we consider to be misinformed or less informed then we are, because we have no way of truly being sure, and it might be the exact opposite.
In short we should all assume to be contently affected by the Dunning-Kruger effect, overestimating our own knowledge and ability.
Dunning-Kruger effect (wikipedia)Where do the majority of people find and access new information?
Traditional media like radio, broadcast television, cable and satellite, news paper, books and magazines? All easily controllable and manipulable sources of information, which can be, and often are, completely monopolized.
It's the same for the kings of the new media! Search engine and social media. They build "highway" to access information, and control where they lead. Search engine like google, have monopolized how people can find information on the web, Giving them the power to choose "what" the people find, and "what" they don't. An unfathomable control, that is mostly unregulated and unrestrained.
As long as you are on their platform, they are in control of everything. Social media like Facebook and YouTube can program people, condition them gradually, influencing them. not only can they control the mainstream narrative, but they can create their own illusion, people are sorted, and then shown a distorted, false and fabricated reality. making people delusional and out of touch with the real world. Now the only place these "highway" will lead you is to other big corporate platform,
What is the alternative? I dream of a web own by individuals, where people have their own platform! their own website, it's not that hard to do, once you understand the basics of html even a kid could build a website. a lot more web page would be ugly, but that's amazing!
That's what makes the world so beautiful as a whole, it's the uniqueness of every individual, their individuality, the web would be full of wonderful surprise, it would be a more colorful web, corporation have established a standard of blend, bloated, similar web page.
Most people think they would have nothing to put on a website, nothing to say. But i don't believe that, if Facebook taught us something, is that people have a lot more things they want to share with other, then they initially think. they share what's in their mind.
If all website had a list of recommended websites or similar websites. we would not rely as much on search engine and we would discover more amazing content.
How do evaluate the credibility of information? Does the site "look" professional? What does it even mean for a website to look professional? some website look more trustworthy then other to most people, but does that mean they are? People have been conditioned to fear, minimalist html website, independent website created by individual people.
It's illogical, it's the opposite, you have more chance to get hacked, or have your computer infected by websites that have hidden code, cookie and scripts on them, but most people don't know that, most people don't know if a site is plain html, or what it even mean, so they can't make an informed logical judgement on what good and bad website look like, all they can do is speculate, and often they arive at the wrong conclusion.
My website for example you can inspect it's code with your browser and all you will see is some basic CSS for the look, and some basic html for the content. no fancy scripting language in here.