At the very beginning, I'd like to ask you to conduct a certain experiment. It'll be a mix of thought experiment and practical one. Try replying to this post. No, this isn't my clever way to force you to bump this thread; it's a serious experiment. Think about how many of you truly understand how this reply button works. I'm not asking about the coding or graphics, but rather, do you know what program it's written in? How would you write it? If all 4chan employees disappeared, and the reply buttons broke, how many of you could fix them? We're talking about a relatively simple IT problem for professionals.
The truth is, probably 95% of people worldwide couldn't even produce toilet paper. If all toilet paper manufacturers disappeared, we'd likely have to use leaves or books.
We live in a world where many things can only be done by a narrow group of people. It's similar with boxing; if not for certain individuals, others wouldn't be champions. We were born in times of digitization, where information travels in seconds, and one message can be seen by millions or billions of people.
Basic education is available to everyone, but two problems plague our society: everyone thinks they're smart, and everyone can share their wisdom on the internet. 100 years ago, people believed the Earth was flat, but they couldn't create 4chan threads to spread their misinformation. Today, there's a Flat Earth Society, and their fans won't change their views even if sent to space.
These people reject science, unaware that they rely on it to click posts on Facebook and access their pseudoscientific groups. False information spreads faster than true, expert-verified information. Emotional content is more contagious, making it easier to spread misinformation. For example, it's easier to claim vaccines cause autism than to explain how vaccines work.
1/3
The truth is, probably 95% of people worldwide couldn't even produce toilet paper. If all toilet paper manufacturers disappeared, we'd likely have to use leaves or books.
We live in a world where many things can only be done by a narrow group of people. It's similar with boxing; if not for certain individuals, others wouldn't be champions. We were born in times of digitization, where information travels in seconds, and one message can be seen by millions or billions of people.
Basic education is available to everyone, but two problems plague our society: everyone thinks they're smart, and everyone can share their wisdom on the internet. 100 years ago, people believed the Earth was flat, but they couldn't create 4chan threads to spread their misinformation. Today, there's a Flat Earth Society, and their fans won't change their views even if sent to space.
These people reject science, unaware that they rely on it to click posts on Facebook and access their pseudoscientific groups. False information spreads faster than true, expert-verified information. Emotional content is more contagious, making it easier to spread misinformation. For example, it's easier to claim vaccines cause autism than to explain how vaccines work.
1/3