September 1, 2024: The Infodemic
Beware the Demon Instant-Gratification. Some decisions tend to fare better after the data has time to age. Hoo-nōs
Our brains fuse our perceptions into a coherent movie — we don’t experience the gaps. Randolph Hefrich
In part, the infodemic is spread by “wearing a mask”—hiding in front of a computer or phone can conceal sources at the same time as it contaminates. Spreading misinformation and disinformation (including creating a “tempest in a teapot”—correct information masquerading as important information) are often about by getting likes, as measured by how rapid and how big the breadth of the spread. Those contributing to the infodemic are not in the least concerned with the veracity and validity of their information, just the attention and/or the satisfaction of being the source.
There are a lot of energies interacting within and between ourselves. They are all an influence, though not always in the same way in the same timeframes. One of those energies is a space between the stuff. For instance (not to get too nerdy and I’m certainly not very nerdy), there is a synaptic cleft between a sending and receiving nervous-system neuron that requires a leap across that space. Information carriers change just before that jump from electrical to chemical. And indeed, there are sometimes transcription errors for a few reasons. One of those reasons is how we arrange experience, though we do not always know it on an intentional level. But it is clear that stuff gets our attention way more than the gaps between stuff (even stuff itself has space within it). Supposedly nature abhors a vacuum, but when it comes to sapiens, I suspect it is us who abhors it; we will strive to fill in the gaps for better or worse (called the principle of closure in some circles).
As it turns out, we’re not always rational about the arrangement of stuff—it’s not reason that matters, though we like to think it does. This is not really the age of reason, but the age of mattering by hook-or-crook or sale-or-fail. Actual wrong or right does not matter when it comes to being heard by a herd.
Perhaps we need to prebunk at least as much as debunk the Info-Frankenstein virus. Prebunking is about lessening the need to debunk—cutting off the infodemic monster before it gets traction. It’s kind of like a premortum to prevent a postmortem. Failure to prebunk is the most likely suspect in the escape of the Info-Frankenstein from the infodemic lab.
The problem is we do not get as many “likes” by examining if we’re wrong before pulling the misinformation trigger as we do by peddling the bizarre. In the Bizarre Bazaar, freaky works far better than friendly—especially because no one is physically present. That is until someone from the Bizarre Bazaar becomes well-known. Who needs to listen to reason when one thinks being part of a mob means belongingness?
As I said, I’m not very nerdy, but I’m thinking the solution is to quit trying to “best” each other in a quest for likes and a sense of belonging. That’s a recipe for upping the us-and-them divide. And it’s clearly better to stop the problem before it gets traction. And that’s mostly in childhood, likely somewhere before the age of 10. But childhood isn’t where solutions have to end, though it sure can be where problems begin. Nonetheless, problems mostly begin with us, whether in childhood or later. A good beginning is to stop warring, stop falling for shiny hooks, watch how we use language, and watch how we fill-in the gaps.
We all engage in constructs—how we assemble experience. It can be difficult to maintain the assembly when it falls apart as we do not like feelings of loss. Lost can be the cost, though found can come around, albeit in new ways. Critical periods can lead to novel ways to construct experience—and then confirmation bias can lose its foothold. The danger in getting lost is hanging desperately onto what was—and then become successful at maintaining that unexamined bias. For instance, measuring our thrive by trying to have more than what we had. If my income is worth less than what it was, but more of us are thriving, how is it I’m hurt? Are we not safer if more of us are thriving? We do not know how to form proper equations when we stampede toward anger. It is a lot easier and quicker to get riled than to calm down, but getting riled does seem to be ruling the roost.
The way we talk to ourselves and to each other matters. It’s just not that obvious, if for no other reason than talk does not seem like a behavior. But it is. I’m not saying language is everything, but it is something that has an impact and it is something we can change without committing to years of study first. It is a practice that has an immediate impact. For instance, why is God mostly used as a noun or a pronoun—what about a verb like “being” (perhaps changes in pronoun usage does mean more nuance?). Why do we say “I am” or “they are” when we mean to describe a condition instead of ascribe a characteristic? Describe and ascribe are two very different words that have more power on our constructs than we know. We can endeavor to speak clearly and correctly—and to be a bit forgiving, without any more ado. The infodemic makes it very clear that the search for believers is not the same as a search for healers. We are both and we need to know which tool at which time is best.
Do not misunderstand me—I’m older and want slower. To me, novelty—a new way of assembly—doesn’t mean old ways are killed off, only that they’re no longer alpha. And getting very quiet, having less to-do stuff, and being around seekers instead of keepers, is less taxing than jumping to conclusions and spreading a mental and emotional virus. The art, science, and philosophy of learning, unlearning, and relearning is a long-term practice the results of which begin the moment we start (yeah, I can still be horrible at it). But there is no excuse to continue the spread of hair-trigger vitriol and the infodemic. There is every reason, emotion, and behavior to slow it down and get it right—a much better outcome than trying to be right.
Start now, even if it feels hopeless. “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now” (attributed to a Chinese proverb).
- By Travis Gibbs
- on Aug, 31, 2024
- eThoughts
- No Comments.
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