@SpencrGreenberg proposes many people would be better off if they curated their social media feed more carefully:
Economist Bryan Caplan advocates something similar more generally:
IMO, I think it's a good idea, but done at the level of the person, rather than the level of posts.
It would be easier to just post funny memes and interesting science. It's time consuming and unpleasant to make unpopular points (such as the fact that Israeli bombs and food/fuel/water embargoes have killed far more children than Hamas has). But imagine if you knew that Jews were being gassed by your government, and you said nothing because it was unpopular?
Many controversial topics are also heavily throttled by social media's censorship algorithms. I might feel more relaxed about building a bubble for myself if I trusted that mainstream media sources weren't routinely spreading lies and propaganda (I bet many people still believe Hunter Biden's laptop was a Russian plant, that Kyle Rittenhouse murdered three black men in cold blood, or that 300 K children are being trafficked in the US ).
So rather than build my bubble at the level of the post, I try to surround myself with peple who can discuss controversial discuss topic politely, follow good argumentation practices, and assume good will. People who fail to do those things consistently get dropped from my feed.
One of my dreams is to find a forum that enforces / rewards good argumentation / epistemic practices:
X (formerly Twitter)
Spencer Greenberg π (@SpencrGreenberg) on X
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