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submitted 6 months ago by Daft_ish@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

As a follow-up, is there signs that the internet/technology may play a role in making a better society for all?

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[-] StellarExtract@lemm.ee 13 points 6 months ago

I'm guessing I'm probably slightly younger than you, but I'm still old enough to remember how things were before the web took everything over. I definitely agree with some of your point, but I think there's some cause for optimism!

  • finally democratize information - Information really is more democratized than any other prior time in human history. There is a bunch of bad information mixed in as well, but that doesn't negate the benefits that the internet has brought in this regard. If I have the time and the motivation I can give myself a college level education just using free resources on the internet.
  • do away with misinformation and pseudoscience - this is definitely a problem on the internet, but I think if we didn't have the internet it would still be a problem. We have whole news networks that were founded specifically to pump out misinformation. That just happened to start around the advent of the internet but was not caused by it.
  • promote critical thinking - yeah, I don't think the internet has helped much on this front, but again I don't think it has actually made it much worse. People are overall much more educated today than they were decades ago. Their ignorance is just also much more visible.
  • freedom and democracy - the internet has enabled a new rise of fascism which is horrifying, but it has also enabled unprecedented coordination and strength in minority communities on a global scale. I think we would be much farther behind socially if the internet hadn't appeared.
[-] Taalnazi@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

That's also my perspective, speaking as someone who also remembers the early days of the Net.

this post was submitted on 16 May 2024
34 points (88.6% liked)

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