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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b>From:</b> extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org> <b>On Behalf Of </b>BillK via extropy-chat<br><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, 1 May, 2024 7:46 AM<br><b>To:</b> Extropy Chat <extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org><br><b>Cc:</b> BillK <pharos@gmail.com><br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [ExI] Update from H. L. Mencken<o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>On Wed, 1 May 2024 at 14:26, <<a href="mailto:spike@rainier66.com" target="_blank">spike@rainier66.com</a>> wrote:<br>><br>> Oh it has been such a gift. Can you even imagine your life without the internet? Without electronic communications? No access to unfiltered news? Most of my adult life has had internet, but I remember what it was like before it, in the 1980s. We knew almost nothing. What we did know was mostly wrong.<br>><br>> spike<br>>-------------------------------------------<br><br><o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>Just ask the experts at lie-telling: chatbots!<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black'>BillK<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>From Llama-3<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Estimating the percentage of the internet that is lies, propaganda, and advertising is a challenging task. The internet is a vast and dynamic space, and it's difficult to quantify the proportion of content that falls into these categories.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>However, we can look at some studies and statistics that might provide some insight:<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>* A study by the Pew Research Center in 2019 found that 54% of adults in the United States said that most or nearly all of the news they saw was inaccurate or misleading.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>*A study by the University of California, Berkeley in 2018 found that 65% of tweets from fake accounts were propaganda or disinformation.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>*A report by the Digital Content Next (DCN) in 2020 found that 72% of online content was advertising.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>While these statistics provide some insight into the prevalence of lies, propaganda, and advertising on the internet, it's important to note that the internet is a vast and dynamic space, and it's difficult to quantify the proportion of content that falls into these categories.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>BillK, note something important in that survey: they reported the percentage of adults who said that most or nearly all the news they saw was inaccurate or misleading. They took a subjective judgment and converted it into an objective measure.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>More on that later, but think about it. How do we determine if a news story is true, misleading, incomplete, or an outright lie?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>spike<o:p></o:p></p></div></div></div></body></html>