Benefits of conspiracy theories. Bullying for a cause. Normal is boring (which is good). Trolls be troll'n. Writing is thinking. 80% of statistics are poorly understood. Worrying about worrying.
“Trolls are slow in the uptake, and mighty suspicious about anything new to them.”
– J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
I can talk to my car. “Hey Rivian!” and it will follow instructions, control things (I haven’t tested how many), and of course navigate. It is rather slow to respond, though.
I tried to have a “conversation” with Google’s Gemini last week. It’s faster, and a reasonable conversationalist, but I really, REALLY, have to turn down the “sycophant / validate everything I say” setting. A real person wouldn’t start every response with “That’s a great idea, Leo!”. I suspect when tuned a little bit it might be an interesting something (not “someone”) to bounce ideas off of, particularly if I’m on a long drive by myself.
Yup. AI’s everywhere. For the most part you can choose to use it, or not; clearly, I choose to use it, though in very specific ways. I say “for the most part” because so many companies are AI-enabling things that, honestly never needed it, and just get in the way by default. I’m hoping that’ll shake out in favor of users in coming months, but I’m also somewhat skeptical. We’ll see.
Have a good week,
1. “Conspiracy theories offer something that uncertainty doesn’t: a clear explanation.”
Why Conspiracy Theories Can Feel True – Hana Lee Goldin, MLIS – (Card Catalog)
This is a fascinating and detailed dive into what conspiracy theories are, and how they work. Spoiler: it’s not about intelligence, it’s about chaos and control.
… these are normal human tendencies that become more pronounced under specific conditions: a chaotic information environment, eroded institutional trust, economic anxiety, and social isolation.
All those conditions have been present for some time, but I think those last two have increased dramatically in recent years. I know I see (and, honestly, am tired of seeing) comments pointing to conspiracy theories right and left over at Ask Leo!.
Do this: Verify before accepting. Please.
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2. “If you bully people to back your cause, you’re still a bully.”
Silence Is Not Violence – Adam Grant – (Granted)
“If you’re not with us, you’re against us.” Or, perhaps more to the point, “if you’re not aggressively posting your support for our cause, you must be against our cause.” Of course neither is true, but both seem popular responses.
Vilifying people for their communication choices is a form of moral grandstanding.
With so many issues near and dear to the hearts of so many people, and with so many issues overwhelming so many people, the ability to support your agenda — even if I agree with it — is limited at best. We all have to choose our battles. Not choosing yours is not necessarily disagreement, more likely it’s a simple mental health choice.
Do this: Respect the decisions of others.
3. “A lot of what passes for conviction is poor emotional regulation.”
Just Be Normal About Things – Joan Westenberg – (Blog)
It’s actually semi-related tot he previous takeaway: so many positions these days have be taken to an extreme. Consider the “maxxing” of everything. Why can’t we just be normal? Well, there’s at least one reason…
Platforms don’t reward “normal.”
…
Normal is the condition that makes meaning possible. A normal diet works fine without a manifesto. A normal sleep schedule doesn’t need a name ending in “maxxing.” A normal political view allows for uncertainty, tradeoffs, and the possibility that your opponents might be wrong rather than the evil descendants of Satan and Satre themselves. A normal reaction to the news is to be concerned and to want more information – not to succumb to immediate emotional combustion. A normal life has habits and preferences and inconsistencies and repairs and occasional contradictions.
Popular culture would have you believe you need to adopt an opinion, a position, a habit to its extreme. Sadly, this causes more problems than ever. Normal may be boring, but boring is good. It certainly seems healthier.
Do this: Dare to be boring.
4. “Trolls have to outtroll each other to keep the attention coming.”
The troll button – Seth Godin – (Blog)
As Godin points out, trolls are really nothing new. What is new is that they, like the rest of us, have been given a platform which amplifies their efforts. Godin wonders what the impact of a “Troll” button, and deplatforming trolls might accomplish.
Your social media scroll might get a bit less amusing, but the upside is that the world we live in will get better. And so will your day.
I’m not convinced. If our social media platforms became “less amusing”, viewership would likely fall overall. The platforms cannot let that stand. Similarly, much like spammers, trolls are playing a game of whack-a-mole. Deplatform in one place, and they’ll just re-appear in another, or with a new account.
My take is more along the lines of “don’t fee the trolls”; shun them. Don’t give them the attention they’re seeking. Block liberally. It’s not a perfect solution, but no solutions are.
Do this: Don’t feed ’em.
5. “We lose the most important part of the writing process”
Reclaiming Moral Imagination in the Age of AI – Brené Brown and Adam Grant – (The Curiosity Shop – podcast)
This is an absolutely fascinating discussion of AI use, AI miss-use, and the impact of AI on our thinking skills. While I found statements by both hosts thought provoking, I found myself feeling more similar to Brown’s position overall. The quote that got my attention, though is from Eve Fairbanks in The Atlantic, quoted by Brown:
When we use AI to flesh out ideas, we lose the most important part of the writing process, thinking.
That is perhaps the single most important ignored side-effect of AI use for content generation, particularly in school.
Like I said, it’s a great episode, and worth the investment if you’re interested in writing, thinking, and AI at all.
Do this: Think. By writing.
6. “When should we trust the odds, and when should we challenge them?”
Our Achilles Heel – Ted Lamade – (CollabFund blog)
Our “Achilles Heel”, according to Lamade, is that most people don’t understand probability and statistics. I can confirm, and it’s something that allows many people to be easily mislead.
But that’s not really the point of this essay. Rather, it’s recognition that sometimes the odds are not something to be weighed as heavily as we do.
When should we trust the odds, and when should we challenge them?
When the pursuit matters as much as the outcome.
He lists a number of examples where “many of humanity’s greatest achievements look irrational.”
Nonetheless, understanding statistics and probabilities remains a) a weakness in general, and b) an incredibly important decision-making skill … even if the decision is to ignore the odds.
Do this: Get a better handle on statistics and probabilities. It’ll serve you well, particularly in today’s “news” landscape.
7. “Most of the worst-case scenarios your brain rehearses at 2am simply do not arrive.”
The surprisingly poor accuracy of human worry – Adam Singer – (Hot Takes)
Singer quotes a study tracking worriers where “the majority of participants had not a single worry materialize into reality”. I think that this is no surprise to most of us, yet we worry anyway; and it’s only gotten worse.
… your brain is a catastrophizing machine making you consider worst case scenarios or stay in fight or flight because it’s wired for survival, and the modern attention economy figured out how to monetize that anxiety and pipe it into your eyes all day.
We’re living in a world, or at a time, where the deck is stacked against us: our anxiety is constantly being triggered.
Do this: Be aware of this. That’s the first step to taming the beast.
Random Links
- The Unsolved Mystery of Lorem Ipsum – Fascinating. (Though I’ll admit to being a fan of Bacon Ipsum, myself.)
- Bot web traffic has overtaken human web traffic, data shows – This affects me directly.
What I’m reading now
- Carl’s Doomsday Scenario: Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 2 – Matt Dinniman
- Good Writing: 36 Ways to Improve Your Sentences – Neal Allen, Anne Lamott
- The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive – Brandon Sanderson
- The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke – (Audio)
- The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark – Carl Sagan
My Reading List – everything I’ve read since 2021.
My Sources Page – the common sources I scan/read regularly.
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