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Here's an ignorant statement I truly believe in: social networks have ruined the world. They will be our downfall in fact. What we're seeing now is just the beginning.

They're by far the scariest product of the wonderful, world-changing invention called the Internet.

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I am in agreement. The web was envisioned as a utopian place where information could flow freely, watering humanity to grow enlightened.

But it turned out that on the web, misinformation is cheaper to produce than true information, individuals—no matter how independently-minded—are no match for corporate and state actors that have vastly more resources and motivation to manipulate, and tribal identity is more powerful than abstract ideals.

What have we wrought?

I don't think social networks are "evil" because of malice. They're evil because of our flaws as human beings. Of our biases. Social networks just amplify and exploit the way we think so mostly negative thoughts and emotions get amplified in an ever-expanding echo chamber [1] We get angrier, more polarised, more isolated in our tribe and cliques. If there has ever been an instrument of the Devil himself to sow discord on this planet, this is it.

1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE3j_RHkqJc

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