I spend a lot of evenings looking for where my Weltanschauung went wrong and I think the biggie is that I really believed increased velocity of communication would lead to net global increase in creative empathy. Mainline protestantism. What can you do.
I mean I have this from a 17-year-old blog post pinned at the top of my profile on a site I no longer post to because it was taking over by the world’s worst person. So, you know. Same.
One of the weird things about being extremely online in ones 40s is that your midlife crisis is fully externalized—the world is the one going through it, while we mostly want the same things we always did (fast gaming PCs).
To be fair, I'm sure there are glowing pieces about the state of a world connected by steamers and telegraphs written in the late summer weeks of 1914.
I distinctly remember back in the late 90s when I was on BBSs and forums and things,
my dad (new to internet) was like 'man it must be so cool exchanging ideas and debating and learning from people all over the world'
I explained forums were 98% shitposts and racism and he was so saddened
Same. What I didn’t realize was that the same stuff that made it possible for stamp collectors and radio enthusiasts and photographers to find each other without geographic limitations did the same thing for Nazis.
I was kinda aware, but what I wasn't expecting was how easily stuff like conspiracy theories and nonsense would spread, I thought all that crap would remain niche and manageable. :(
The thing that haunts me about the smoking remains of my similar Wwwanschauung is I think we could have managed the empathy increase if we'd just twisted the governance knobs somewhat differently. Unspecifically differently, of course. Give me a time machine, and I'm not quite sure what I'd change.
Teaching psychology from elementary onward 100+ years ago would have had well--effects. I'd like to think positive ones vis-a-vis the Internet. Heck we might have known better than to invent social media.
A Calvinist data scientist and a Baptist data scientist are arguing so earnestly after walking out of a conference session that they both fail to notice an uneven pavement ahead of them, and both go tumbling down, papers and pens flying everywhere..
The Baptist stands up, collects themself, and ..
.. and says “I should be more careful. I should have noticed. I’ll never do that again.”
Calvinist pops back up, checks his bleeding elbow, and the sighs:
“I’m glad that’s over”
