I don't think it's that "people have forgotten". Rather, there's huge centralized control-points which people are fighting over. For example, simply for the sake of discussion, just saying, use-mention, is it a "fact" that in humans sex is binary - and immutable? Or who won the 2020 Presidential election? Do Israel's actions in Gaza qualify as "genocide"? It's not quite "control the fact-checkers, control the world", but there's certainly a flavor of that.
By the way, it seems really insular to me when the chattering class makes such a fuss over the supposed "nightmarish" horrors of a fact-checking job. Ever worked on an assembly-line? In a warehouse? As a cashier? "Here's a pile of stuff, deal with it. When you get done, here's another pile of stuff." Repeat. Endlessly. That's the essence of many jobs. "You load sixteen tons, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt". Yes, people burn-out from it - but that's a characteristic of many types of labor, not something unique and special here.
Orwell's 1984 of course has a lot to say about what happens when you control what is accepted to be true. The escape hatch is of course objective, empirical re-examination (aka science, or its analogues). Is human sex binary? Let's get a definition from biologists of "sex" and see what they say. The 2020 election? I guess you'd need to recount all the votes - not a minimal task, but not an impossible (in theory one). Gaza and "genocide" is the much trickier one, because observation simply isn't allowed, and the definition of the word also relies on intent. (Of course its use isn't intended to be factual, but emotive.)
As to the fact-checking work - yes, it's not the same as the abuse monitors, who frequently have to view absolutely vile stuff (physical abuse of children is quite a common one, I understand) in order to push the button to remove it. For that, you can understand how people would either abandon hope in humanity, or abandon the job.
Haha - "mumble mumble is free mumble mumble are sacred". It's sort of Zuckerberg's mantra, really, given how many times he's changed position on what can/can't be said over the years.
I don't think it's that "people have forgotten". Rather, there's huge centralized control-points which people are fighting over. For example, simply for the sake of discussion, just saying, use-mention, is it a "fact" that in humans sex is binary - and immutable? Or who won the 2020 Presidential election? Do Israel's actions in Gaza qualify as "genocide"? It's not quite "control the fact-checkers, control the world", but there's certainly a flavor of that.
By the way, it seems really insular to me when the chattering class makes such a fuss over the supposed "nightmarish" horrors of a fact-checking job. Ever worked on an assembly-line? In a warehouse? As a cashier? "Here's a pile of stuff, deal with it. When you get done, here's another pile of stuff." Repeat. Endlessly. That's the essence of many jobs. "You load sixteen tons, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt". Yes, people burn-out from it - but that's a characteristic of many types of labor, not something unique and special here.
Orwell's 1984 of course has a lot to say about what happens when you control what is accepted to be true. The escape hatch is of course objective, empirical re-examination (aka science, or its analogues). Is human sex binary? Let's get a definition from biologists of "sex" and see what they say. The 2020 election? I guess you'd need to recount all the votes - not a minimal task, but not an impossible (in theory one). Gaza and "genocide" is the much trickier one, because observation simply isn't allowed, and the definition of the word also relies on intent. (Of course its use isn't intended to be factual, but emotive.)
As to the fact-checking work - yes, it's not the same as the abuse monitors, who frequently have to view absolutely vile stuff (physical abuse of children is quite a common one, I understand) in order to push the button to remove it. For that, you can understand how people would either abandon hope in humanity, or abandon the job.
Digression: I have a Comment is Free mug from when I worked on the site, and the words comment and facts have rubbed off.
Thanks for this.
Haha - "mumble mumble is free mumble mumble are sacred". It's sort of Zuckerberg's mantra, really, given how many times he's changed position on what can/can't be said over the years.