> Wrong the way it would be wrong to predict that if you set your kitchen on fire, the result will be a renovation.

This might be favorite metaphor ever, and one I'll quoting in the future! :)

I think the author conflates social media with other inventions like a portable GPS device, an electronic map, a music player, or indeed a cell phone.

As far as social media goes the author is (IMHO) spot on. You do not have to look far to see how that is at least harming democracy around the globe. For democracy to flourish you need reflective voters who can entertain multiple viewpoints and make informed decisions. That is what social media - in its most common current form - discourages and rather optimizes for attention-time (which is money).

And of course (some) anonymity paired with global reach would not bring out the best in people. Anger and flames spread faster than conciliatory messages and get you more dopamine posting those.

Just my $0.02.

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boredhedgehog 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I stumbled over that metaphor. Isn't it true that a consequence of setting your kitchen on fire will be a new, better kitchen?

	▲	thinking_cactus 5 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Well, as a secondary consequence maybe, but then you could not set your kitchen on fire and still renovate it. Supposedly the first step you think of when renovating your kitchen isn't "Let me set my house on fire!"?
	▲	pdonis 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		As long as you can convince your insurance company that you didn't do it on purpose to get a renovation, I guess. :-)

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bethekidyouwant 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

When was democracy good? was it was it in the 50s when we were all immune to propaganda?

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bilbo0s 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Isn't the old adage that democracy was never good, it was always just better than all the other forms of government. It got more done. It advanced economies more. Etc etc etc.

Then we torched it at just about the same time as the Chinese came along with a new form of government that I'm not sure the world has as yet even given a proper name. (I guess we can call it Communism? But everyone kind of knows that it's nothing like.)

So to global generations that have grown up viewing all these changes, democracy by comparison to what they have in China has started to look not so all powerful. To many of the planet's young people the assertion that "democracy is the worst except for all the others", is by no means obvious. That change in view is going to have profound implications on the world going forward.

	▲	YurgenJurgensen 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		China’s ‘new’ form of government is basically their old form of government with some communist rhetoric sprinkled over it.
	▲	krapp 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		>Then we torched it at just about the same time as the Chinese came along with a new form of government that I'm not sure the world has as yet even given a proper name. (I guess we can call it Communism? But everyone kind of knows that it's nothing like.) I think the term is "state capitalism." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_capitalism)

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nothinkjustai 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Democracy was better when the only viewpoints we were exposed to were from corporate media outlets? Are you sure about that? Better for whom?

	▲	vrganj 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Who do you think decides which media the algorithms show you now? It's all corporate, just more addictive and less accountable now.