Steering around bad influences
On the world's quietest room, a 1937 political lecture, and the very deep perils of being "too online"
Among the ways in which human intelligence is certain to remain distinct from any kind of artificial intelligence is the fact that we are corporeal creatures -- we exist in the physical world, have thoughts and feelings that are inseparable from physical phenomena, and experience a variety of sensations at all times that have inescapable effects on our minds. Consider how people respond to extreme sensory deprivation like the “the world’s quietest room”, or ponder the legacy of Helen Keller.
■ There’s been a massive shift, though, as people have begun devoting hours a day to social media, which may still consist of auditory and visual inputs, but is hardly the same sensory experience as, say, taking a walk in the woods. And in the woods, there’s nobody with a monetary incentive to get you riled up the way that very same incentive exists online.
■ In 1937, the political activist Marcus Garvey lectured his followers: “Never keep the constant company of anybody who doesn’t know as much as you [...] especially, if that person is illiterate or ignorant because constant association with such a person will unconsciously cause you to drift into the peculiar culture or ignorance of that person.”
■ Circumstances may change, but human nature really doesn’t. It was perilous in 1937 to “keep constant company” with people who were unashamed of their own ignorance, it was perilous to do so in 1237 (or 37 BC), and it’s still perilous today. What has changed is that the temptation to deprive ourselves of a rich experience of the world is probably greater than ever, thanks to the addictive characteristics of social media, and some of the most ignorant (or, perhaps worse, the most malevolent) people around are extremely talented at drawing attention to themselves.
■ Add in the effects of rage-baiting and the rampant amplification of outrageous messages by those trying to signal their own moral outrage, and it becomes clear that bad impulses are in many ways overtaking the usefulness of content moderation (or what was once known as “editorial judgment”). The platforms seem entirely disincentivized to fix the problem, but human nature tells us it’s just as important to recognize and break the bad patterns of behavior as it ever was.
