Thread by @PhilippMarkolin

Discussions about #FreeSpeech are misguided in the information age.

Even before our voices are drowned out by the noise on social media, or overwritten by information combatants, we lose our agency and decision autonomy to manipulative complex systems we don’t fully understand.

The whole point of the #enlightenment, the scientific revolution, our educational and #epistemic institutions was to empower individuals to find a way out of their self-imposed #immaturity, to take #agency over their lives and make informed decisions.

We need #epistemic clarity about reality, for without it, our agency will be blunted & our freedom a charade

It is public-interest education, journalism & science that truly make individuals in a #democratic society free, not the right to cast a vote or to elect a representative

#Asymmetric actors will continue to abuse any and all #information systems in the 21st century to create #fragmented realities to their benefit.

They have seen their #opportunities and learned their lessons, so the real question is:

Why have we not learned ours?

I do not have a great answer for that, but I believe it is largely because we have created a world that has few things to offer to vast numbers of people who find themselves #trapped in fragmented realities, often created and nudged towards by specific #engagements #algorithms.

The #addictive dopamine kicks from sharing, responding, and liking are one thing.

However, the psychological #dependence on confirmation (and other cognitive) biases to make sense of our #uncertain world, the feeling of #control, #community, and #belonging are to be found on...

... social media, albeit in the worst and most #abusive way possible; for the #extraction of our data and at the cost of our #sanity and often #humanity

We are not only the products, but we are also dependent on the attention economy and many cling to its distractions to avoid..

...another crisis of modern times; a quest for #meaning and #purpose, a quest for #belonging & a quest for being part of something bigger than ourselves

These are fundamental needs that make us human, yet how many avenues does modern society offer participate and self-actualize?

We should make no mistake that when we find ourselves pulled towards customized #fragmented realities, or when we get sucked into believing #conspiracy theories, it is not solely by their inherent attractiveness, we are also pushed towards them by other complex #mechanisms.

#Education, #journalism, and #science have the power to elevate us out of our limited perspectives and return to a shared #reality, if we let them.

There are no #technocratic interventions that will solve our #human problems for us, at best they only aid in our endeavors.

There is always hope. 

#Dynamical complex systems do not have to rest in #equilibrium until an unprecedented dramatic #shock or #disruption kicks them out of it.

We do not need autocratic #strongmen to change the system, they will only make it worse.

Truly understanding this means that we do not have to succumb to #autocrats, #violent revolutions, #wars, or #catastrophes for systems to change.

I reject that proposition, and so should you.