Oh man, as soon as I saw “there was a French guy” I thought this was about Tarrare. He was even more unbelievable, but at least the fart maniac isn’t as unsettling
One time I asked chatgpt to come up with a list of random street addresses, and the first couple were fine, then one was like “123 cherry street”, then each following address was like “777 apple lane” “888 banana ave” and so on. Which was wrong but also pretty charming I thought.
I will say I went from a place that had these meetings to one that doesn’t. It’s more concerning when leadership doesn’t seem to have any plan at all, even if the plan is “do a good job and sell this much of this thing”.
Not to sound like an after school special, but if a “friend” encourages you to do something harmful then they’re not your friend. (Making fun of others, physically fighting, consuming more substances than you’re comfortable with, generally breaking the law) But especially when people are younger they might be eager to have a friend, and feel pressured to go along with what another person suggests.
You’re right, better schooling is important. What do you think are the obstacles to getting it? Why isn’t it happening already?
Does seem like there’s a loop of misinformation means less effective democracy, and less effective democracy allows for more misinformation. Seems like better democratic systems are called for, like ranked choice voting, but also better news or education outside formal public school.
I also think overpowered interests (ie. rich people) can veto education on subjects that most people would benefit from. So maybe one thing is better limiting the accumulation of outsized wealth or power?
The “we” thing is a good point, and even as I was writing this was thinking about the post the other day where someone was like “how can we get more redditors to lemmy” and a bunch of people were like, “we don’t want that.”
I’m thinking about anyone interested in the subject. There’s never going to be universal interest in some philosophical project, and there doesn’t need to be in order to have a positive impact. So I’m thinking of people who do have an interest in the sort of meta issue, how things “ought” to be.
I’m interested in practical, testable ideas, and at the same time I think there needs to be a philosophical underpinning to any type of project nurturing “beneficial” ideas, because otherwise how do you evaluate what’s beneficial?
My philosophy is that existence is desirable, continued existence is desirable, and ever more elevated ways of existing. So going from “anything existing,” to life existing, to animals, to conscious beings. The basic nuts and bolts are important then - is there enough food to live, is something going to kill me, and we’ve for the most part got these down (although not at a systemic level to eliminate homelessness, universal healthcare, etc). But I don’t think we have any kind of grasp on long term sustainability - we’re in serious environmental peril, the existence of any nuclear weapon is a threat, biological weapons, decline of democracy, even something like an asteroid impact.
So when talking about an ecosystem of ideas, for me at least its about ideas that will avoid or mitigate larger threats which are difficult for any individual to address.
This is good. Are you aware of any places explicitly doing solutions journalism? (I’m sure there are, more just interested to find places I’m not aware of)
This reminded me of “The Problem with Jon Stewart” which while not perfect seems like a move in the right direction. It just got canceled, and the article I had seen suggested it was because Apple had concerns over some of the subjects (ie, didn’t want to piss off china and have its operations in china highlighted, and didn’t want focus on AI which it may be using).
So then what are the conditions which would allow for more solutions journalism? Off-hand I’d say employee owned entities (or less optimally operations with wealthy patrons willing to give them leeway) would mean they’re less likely to be shut down. I suppose seeing examples of it being successful would inspire more individuals or groups to move in that direction.
Yeah, in the states a college campus center is a great place to hang out if you’re passible as a student. Some of the campuses are huge and there are multiple places that don’t require an ID card
A 57% majority of Americans say the government should ensure health coverage. Of course then 53% say the system should be based on private insurance, which is contradictory.
Another factor to consider here is people don’t vote directly for policies. They vote for legislators who then decide which policies are a priority, and can interpret for themselves, right or wrong, what it is their constituents voted them in to do.