Uninformed, Misinformed, Disinformed: FUD

in #philosophy6 years ago

As humans, the feedback we receive from the environment is processed and used to better develop our insight and help us make more more effective actions. It is this flow of information and our ability to interpret it that has been driving human development all of these years.

Previously, the information was extracted from our immediate environment but this soon started to spread wider and wider until the entire world's information is at our fingertips. As handy as this seems to be, it has its drawbacks.

When there is such a flow of random information, the human mind cannot process effectively to create effective actions that best fit the immediate environment. On top of this, the source of the information has changed dramatically.

At some point, the source was nature itself and humans used what the observed to act upon. As family units became small tribes, the range of information increased but it was in everyone's best interest to be truthful and support the group for survival. As the groups got larger and started to fragment, this connection began to change and there was a continual increase in using the information to better a micro position of an individual or small group over the macro.

In today's world, the largest purveyors of information are the governments and media conglomerates with dissemination being handled by the myriad syndicated news services and of course, the trillion dollar social channels. The thing to remember is that, everyone has an angle.

The angle of the past used to be self preservation and this meant providing the information that could protect you, which was the information that best serviced the small family unit or local community. This has not been the case for a very long time.

Now, the goal of most information is to serve two core purposes, power and money, and of course, these work rather well in combination and often feed each other. and, feeding each other is an important factor here when you start looking at how those interact who are after power, Governments, and money, media. There is of course the fence sitters, the corporations.

These three core groups work in unison to maximize their positions and will consistently support each other. One may observe 'hang on, they are in constant battle with each other' but this battle is largely a farce. It is a play to confuse the common spectator and can be used to great effect to either raise or drop a groups intensity.

What this does is create many factions between the powerless that are constantly being push and pulled by centralized authorities. These authorities work together by creating a play of fiction where they appear in a constant on again, off again relationship. This keeps the children, us, in a constant state of indecision.

The information that gets disseminated is the core mechanism of control used to tighten the grip on our chains and wallets. The influx is so fast, varied and contradictory that it is near impossible for any group to 'really know' what is going on. Just when one thinks they have been able to grasp understanding, another piece of information refutes it.

On top of this, sources mix what is factual with what is not which means there is no practical chance for the audience to filter what is what from what is not. This leads to many attaching themselves to one particular source that provides a view they can generally support. Siloing themselves in other words. The more this happens, the further along a normal distribution they can be pushed and when there is another group doing the same on the other end, polarized enemies are created.

This further feeds the power/money paradigm as it creates the fear and uncertainty that causes many to look for security (control), and gives a huge amount of turmoil and new routes with which to capitalize on in the various markets (money). Essentially, most governments, corporations and media outlets are sellers of FUD and we buy it, eat it and act upon it to create the environment that is best suited for them to take advantage of us.

What I am hoping that blockchain technology, decentralized AI, platforms like Steem and decentralized currencies can work together to bring back the idea of an individual being best serviced by looking after the group and the group looking after the individual.

What I mean by this however is that it has the potential to cut out the many rent-seeking, greedy, warmongering, power hungry mega units and provide an environment where individuals can truly grow and be a part of a community. It is unlikely that this community will be a tribe like in the past though with a few members, it is going to be massive.

But the tribal rules may still be able to hold as the view of what is best for the entire group is in line with what is best for the individual. To do this though, we have to get rid of the FUD and that takes a concerted effort by individuals and organisations willing to train the uninformed, correct the misinformed and destroy the disinformation.

We are all affected by FUD, whether within ourselves or via the communities we are a part of and how they act in this turmoil. It is in all of our best interests to clean this up and create a system that is truly supportive of individual excellence. This takes all of us together, and every one of us as an individual to learn all we can to build a new understanding. To shift paradigms.

Decentralization could both reduce the power of the centralized groups and lower their possibility to gather funds. This can slowly return power to the individual and spreads the wealth wider. There have been and are still far too many suffering, while working towards their own enslavement at the hands of the people they turn to for security.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]

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Not sure where to begin. All of what you have stated is so true. It was not too long ago that most stories had only two sides. even then it would be hard to decipher what was truthful or not. Or you would have to determine which parts of each version carried some truth. Today, stories have as many sides as can possible be dreamed up. Nothing is black and white any more. FUD needs to be sifted through with the finest of filters to obtain even a hint of valid info. Our government along with the big time players who control our political system, need us to be constantly guessing on what the f--k in happening. It makes it easier to lead us if we are confused.

There seems to be only personal position on everything and the truth of that position is whatever I think is right, even if I never investigate it or actually listen to valid arguments. We are controlled by what we choose to spend our time, money and energy on.

What I am hoping that blockchain technology, decentralized AI, platforms like Steem and decentralized currencies can work together to bring back the idea of an individual being best serviced by looking after the group and the group looking after the individual.

I think going forward, this will be what brings users to blockchain social platforms than any other thing

That is what I am banking on. cutting out as many middlemen services as possible and having more direct transactions in all forms.

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Great perspective on the war for attention that we are living like no other time period in history. If the world new how valuable our attention was, they would not cater to the centralized source and would seek transparent options that others provide. However, in addition to misinformation, our emotions get in the way quite often when trying to make sense of things.

If the world new how valuable our attention was, they would not cater to the centralized source and would seek transparent options that others provide.

And options where they benefit from the value of their own information.. oh... here we are ;D

Yes ! Most information highways are driven selfishly to attain a predetermined commercial status, Power and of course Self Preservation!! And I dare say that this Shall Continue to be the Standard norm for info traffic for decades , yet to come.

What can change is the distribution of it though. currently our own information is being sold back to us while the value doesn't spread to us.

That farcical battle works brilliantly because we have this need to know where we stand. We want to know what other's directions are so that we can prepare to look after ourselves and our nearest and dearest. So it either leaves us in a state of flux or clinging to the truth which best makes sense to us.

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