[ExI] questions

[Darin Sunley]

Keeping it non-political, I'll take a stab at a serious answer to that very
important question.

There is indeed a very well-developed science of political propaganda at
this point. Unfortunately it's almost entirely destructive and
destabilizing. They can divide populations, they can sow dissent, they can
entrench existing divisions in opinion, they can even make people
permanently stupider and more violent. It used to be against the law to
employ it domestically in the US, but the relevant law was repealed during
the Obama administration.
https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1203&context=nulr
.

The results have been manifest for anyone with eyes to see.

What they /can't/ do is make people smarter, or make people change sides
around the axes of division they define, once they define them.

[This is in stark contrast to the alleged science of public education,
which for over 50 years now has been well-established as not being able to
accomplish much of anything.]

If you haven't read Scott Alexander's "Sort by Controversial"
https://slatestarcodex.com/2018/10/30/sort-by-controversial/ , I /highly/
recommend it. It may be remembered as prophecy and documentary rather than
science fiction.

On Wed, Apr 16, 2025 at 11:01 AM Adrian Tymes via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> On Wed, Apr 16, 2025 at 12:50 PM William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
>> Hint - we need some new topics.  Object:  disinter Spike and Bill w.
>>
>
> At the risk of veering into politics, is there a science to manipulating
> the standard reason-eschewing low-information MAGA masses and politicians
> into implementing desired social outcomes?
> _______________________________________________
> extropy-chat mailing list
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
> http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat
>
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