[Fis] On disinformation

Sun Dec 6 15:01:28 CET 2020

Dear Wolfgang:

>there is a worldwide trend towards self-interestedness, which needs to 
>be countered by the insight into what is needful globally to govern our 
>world to continue our existence. hope is there because we have the 
>anthropological setting for turning around.
>
>wolfgang
>
Do you happen to know what is "needed globally to govern our world to 
continue our existence?" How do the "anthropological settings turn us 
around? Is this a recipe?

Best,
Loet

>
>>Am 06.12.2020 um 02:16 schrieb Howard Bloom <howlbloom en aol.com>:
>>
>>dai,
>>
>>as an indication that your idea that disinformation is the norm and 
>>consensus the exception,
>>
>>look how hard previous ages have worked to impose consensus.  
>>spreading roman culture amongst tribal peoples in the days of the 
>>roman empire.  throwing dissidents to the lions. making sure that 
>>everyone's education was the same with the same roughly five books 
>>studied and the same alphabet used from roughly 200 bc onward in 
>>china.   hunting heretics once rome turned christian.  the 
>>inquisition.  the absolute rule of the tsar in russia, with all 
>>printing presses used for just one thing: printing the tsar's ukases.
>>
>>howard
>>
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Dai Griffiths <dai.griffiths.1 en gmail.com>
>>To: fis en listas.unizar.es
>>Sent: Sat, Dec 5, 2020 9:41 am
>>Subject: Re: [Fis] On disinformation
>>
>>Dear all,
>>We tend to think of 'surveillance capitalism' and other related trends 
>>as being a disruption of normality. But seen from a longer 
>>perspective, perhaps we are living in an unusual period (or the 
>>possibly the end of it) in which there has been relatively widespread 
>>social agreement about the nature of the world that we are living in. 
>>"Ask the priest" used to be the answer to questions of eschatology or 
>>social propriety (and often still is) but that doesn't help much in 
>>establishing who is giving the orders or why, and what is going on in 
>>the town over the hill. We have relied on newspapers for that, and, in 
>>the UK, the BBC. As a result, flat earthers haven't much traction 
>>recently compared with the conflict between Galileo and the church, 
>>and even McCarthyism was primarily about economic power and control, 
>>not as unhinged as the witchcraft hysteria that Miller (rightly) 
>>compared it to. If it is true that we have been living in an oasis of 
>>relative consensus, where did that consensus come from?
>>I would argue that it emerged from the inherent limitations in access 
>>to printing technology, and the editorial, commercial, political and 
>>social processes that developed to cope with that limited access. It 
>>is these processes that generated the authority of some ideas over 
>>others, the generalised trust in some media rather than others, and 
>>the ability to identify consistent biases in those that were trusted.
>>I suggest that we should recognise that disinformation, fake news, and 
>>plain old gossip, are the default state for human social interactions. 
>>It is evolved and designed social structures and institutions that 
>>overcome this. Our challenge is then to disentangle the way that that 
>>informational authority was generated in the past, and the (perhaps 
>>disfunctional) way that it is generated at present. My suspicion is 
>>that we won't get far in improving the situation unless we question 
>>the central role of the recommender algorithms that have taken over 
>>much of the work of human editors in determining what is seen heard 
>>and read, and by whom. To have any chance of achieving political 
>>traction in the face of commercial interests and personal preferences, 
>>proposals for change in that area will have to tell and extremely 
>>clear story about how we got to where we are, where we should try to 
>>go next, and how we could get there.
>>Best
>>Dai
>>On 04/12/2020 14:06, Pedro C. Marijuan wrote:
>>Dear Terry and FIS colleagues,
>>
>>Thanks for the reflections--I will try to continue with rather 
>>disconnected ideas.
>>
>>The term 'surveillance capitalism' introduced by Shoshana Zuboff 
>>(indeed complemented with a parallel 'surveillance authoritarianism') 
>>is  addressed to cover the new negative aspects of current 
>>technological developments. However, my opinion is that these 
>>phenomena are inherent in all human societies in all epochs, for there 
>>is always a tension, say, between the individual "fitness" and the 
>>whole social "commons", which can be set in quite many different 
>>dynamic equilibrium points, basically maintained via circulating or 
>>communicating info flows. It is easy to see that information, 
>>disinformation, surveillance, persuasion, and coercion travel together 
>>in the socialization-communication pack. Historically, every new means 
>>of communication (then we land on McLuhan) alters those social 
>>equilibria and somehow demands a social or cultural reaction to 
>>re-establish an acceptable collective situation. The problem now, you 
>>mentioned in the previous post, is the enormous concentration of 
>>power, of brute info flows,  around these new media--without 
>>appropriate social curation at the time being. I doubt that these 
>>technologies can bring the solution by themselves . Institutional, 
>>social intervention would be needed...  Scholarly analysis might be 
>>important, providing cues on the the influence on individual and 
>>collective moods/personalities, on the possible counteracting 
>>institutional alternatives and on the needed new cultural norms to 
>>abide along these new forms of communication (sort of 'traffic 
>>regulations'), even a personal hygiene of communication...
>>
>>The problems are far more serious, complex, and faster than in 
>>McLuhan's time. We have to reinvent his views... But how can we 
>>organize a collective, cumulative discussion? I was thinking that a 
>>feasible first step, apart of what we can do directly in the list, 
>>could be calling for a Special Issue in some interesting, 
>>multidisciplinary Journal. Well, at the time being, Terry, Joseph, and 
>>myself are promoting a sort of ad hoc group to move things--anyone 
>>else would join??
>>
>>Best regards
>>--Pedro
>>
>>El 01/12/2020 a las 22:54, Terrence W. DEACON escribió:
>>Dear Pedro,
>>
>>Great suggestions. I like the idea of an ongoing separate thread 
>>addressing disinformation.
>>Of course I only addressed Western disinformation and didn't even 
>>touch on highly massaged information that is often disseminated with 
>>centralized governmental control.
>>This disinforms by selective censorship and redundancy and is 
>>increasingly taking advantage of the myriad new forms of surveillance 
>>that can be used to shape the information made available to different 
>>targeted audiences.
>>And Yes McLuhan is definitely relevant.
>>I wonder how he would think about the effects of these new media.
>>How do they reshape the nature of content?
>>How they can be understood using his notions of hot and cool?
>>What is now in the rear view mirror within the new media that once was 
>>in the foreground?
>>On these matters Bob Logan might want to weigh in.
>>
>>--
>>Professor Terrence W. Deacon
>>University of California, Berkeley
>>
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>>
>>--
>>-------------------------------------------------
>>Pedro C. Marijuán
>>Grupo de Bioinformación / Bioinformation Group
>>
>>pcmarijuan.iacs en aragon.eshttp://sites.google.com/site/pedrocmarijuan/
>>-------------------------------------------------
>>
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>>--
>>-----------------------------------------
>>
>>Professor David (Dai) Griffiths
>>
>>SKYPE: daigriffiths
>>
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