On Social Media Censoring

Social media (like Facebook or YouTube) is a great tool for spreading information. However it is also proven very effective to spread fake news or other disadvantageous communication like trolling and hate speech. Many have suggested that the maintainers of the media do something about it, like block, censor or otherwise punish this kind of communication. Certainly this would stop or at least reduce the spread of disadvantageous information hence reducing the spread of brain viruses, right?

The risk of such a behavior is the same risk we have alway had for any kind of censorship: the human brain. If we allow some kind of censorship, it will not take too long for the human brain to want to take advantage of this power. Sooner or later, this would lead to a society that will be censoring also advantageous information just to benefit the few who can control the censorship.

In this case, i believe answer that can last in the long term lies in inoculating the receiver, rather than the carrier.

We can fight the spreading of a disease in various ways. One way is to block the spreading, another way is to block its onset on the host[needs reference]. Depending on the situation, one or the other may prove more effective. However, I am alarmed when blocking the spreading depends on putting a lot of power in controlling information in the hands of very few people. We have seen over and over again over the course of human history[need reference] how powerful information is, how much the human can accomplish by sharing knowledge.

I believe attention and money would be better spent towards educating the individual humans on how our brains work and therefore how to individually be able to detect or distinguish advantageous from disadvantageous information, hence blocking the onset of the virus. But this kind of education would need to happen at all levels: from elementary school to high school to academic in the education to professional continuing education courses. Or maybe just start with kids?

But then, how can this actually happen without it turning into some kind of distorted and manipulated brainwashing or teaching, designed with evil intents in mind (like to drain power or money out of the mass, and into a selected elite)? I don’t know. Maybe it just has to collectively happen.

Other thoughts

The way that fake news or a hate speech spreads is very similar to the way a virus spreads: it is destructive in nature yet at the same time very appealing for the carrier. In other words the carrier (in this specific example it would be the human brain) is deceived by the pleasant sensations of the information itself to pick up and carry instruction and to spread it to others. You might be wondering how pleasant sensations have to do with hate speech or trolling. On the surface level, it certainly seems like there is nothing to be pleased about when somebody is trolling somebody else, with heavy insults. Why then, Is our brain attracted so much to keep reading with these angry emotional and negative posts? Why is our brain bored when it has to read neutral scientific information?

I think our brain in its a deep complexity, is actually driven at least partially by some simple fundamental rules. The complexity arises when these rules are then applied to everyday life (the interactions of these rules with sensations and thoughts). No means do I claim to be an expert in neuroscience. However by observing my own mental patterns, it certainly appears as if my brain keeps wanting things that produce pleasant sensations and always less things that produce unpleasant sensations. I have yet to observe a situation where this is not the case. I crave for food, because when i eat, i get very pleasant sensations. But only when i’m hungry. As i get full, when i eat, i get very unpleasant sensations, so i starting having aversion to food. Similarly, even when my brains wants to do something physically or mentally destructive, somehow my brain gets a kick out of it. Many times it believes i deserve to feel the pain as a punishment for some other thing i have done, which deep down i know i shouldn’t have done. So i get some relief while i’m performing the destructive act. But then, once i’m done, i eventually become aware i have done yet another thing shouldn’t have, so i suffer more, and i crave for more punishment, to get that temporary relief. And the cycle goes on, until the brain gets distracted by some other input (which, in this case luckily, there is plenty of).

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