Best Case Scenarios for the Future

[Cramulus]

So I guess I see that a best case scenario for the future involves some kind of evolution in information and idea exchange that allows for more vetting and more thoughtfulness when people talk about and exchange ideas.  And if that requires the death of the internet, I will gladly do a happy dance on its festering corpse.  

This goes hand in hand with my hope for more skeptical media consumption.

I wish the public had the equivalent of the emote, and used it frequently

My vision is that a powerful meme will ripple through the public. It's empowerment, and it comes in the form of rejecting manipulation and not participating in information warfare.

Right now I call it Information Veganism - people who will only consume organic information, not processed GMO crap.

[LMNO]

Best Case Scenario?

In one or two generations, the Old Analog Guard will be pushed out of the spotlight, and the Digital Age babies will be assuming positions of power.  They were born into an environment that forced them to mistrust just about every source of media input (the OAG, having grown up with the idea of "trusted sources", have been manipulated and been manupulating the new media, which tends to accelerate confusion and strife (Hail Eris)). 

With this new generation comes a better understanding of social maniputions, so blatant partisan diatribes and polemics are not as effective.  Plus, faster technologies lead to "real-time third-party fact-checking" of all information distributed, so any misinformation or manipulation will be identified quicker.

Bad decisions will still be made, of course, but they won't be as obviously stupid.

And yes, that is my best case scenario.

[Cramulus]

in ancient Greece/Rome, an education in Rhetoric was necessary both to communicate to the public, and to understand what others are really saying. I think there should be some newsmedia equivalent.

[AFK]

Fuck yeah.  Similarly, and tying in to the last few posts, I think every public school in the United States should have a mandatory class on media literacy.  I recognize that depending on the ideology of the teacher this still has room for thought corruption, however, I think overall it would be a net plus.  And may cause more people to grow up as information vegans.

[Triple Zero]

Fravia+ from Searchlores.org used to advocate this as well. On a basic level, teach "critical reading skills", on a more advanced level teach "exegesis" in the literal meaning of the word, being not just critically looking at the content, but also try to find out why it was written, with what purpose it was written, because even if all the facts check out as true, there's still layers of meaning behind a written text for those willing to look for it.