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Friday Fun Thread for February 17, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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How do you combat disinformation when anyone can generate infinite amounts of it?

By doing what we've been doing for thousands of years: collapse back to the time-tested heuristic of "what's in my class interest to believe, and what isn't" and what one's closer neighbors have gained through their networks. Technology (Signal and Whatsapp, if you trust that) already exists to verify users aren't artificial anyway.

It doesn't matter what is and isn't misinformation; the past 2 weeks of lockdowns should have made that clear enough considering how frequently the official sources actively lied about all manner of things. What ended up happening in the end is that it was in the class interest of the PMC to work from home when possible while banning all other businesses from operating, then encouraging riots to burn, loot, and murder the kulaks that remained.

They didn't need AI to get people to believe those things. It happened anyway, and 20% of the total wealth in the Western world was consumed by the fires stoked by the respective governments within 100 weeks. Sure, AI might make that easier, and the public might very well push for a solution like that given that you now know who exactly in your circle of friends will turn Nazi when the chips are down- but I don't think it's actually that much of a force multiplier.

20% of the total wealth in the Western world

Where does this number come from?