Books

Welcome @henryfarrell!

Henry is a professor of international affairs and author of several books, including the award winning Of Privacy and Power. 

He has agreed to do an AMA for the /books channel.

Reply with your questions (please make sure to tag him so he can easily find them)

Building /bright-moments - minting onchain art IRL | /purple #15 | FID 129 #magikarp

Rome, Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Italy

@henryfarrell in your essay 'No exit' you state, "To promote open inquiry and free, market-based technological progress, you need an open society, not one founded on the enemy principle.”

How does one encourage Silicon Valley and its echo chamber to participate in legitimate discussions when 'alternative' media apparatuses are used largely to foment what Marc Andreessen describes as 'availability cascades' and effectively gaslight 'enemy' opinions?

My response to Marc would be "physician, heal thyself!" I think that there is plenty that is wrong with mainstream media, and many very stupid things that are published. But frankly, I think that Marc needs to get over it, and to recognize that everyone is prone to availability cascades and obsession with the "current thing," including him. As, for that matter, am I. And that we are all over inclined to treat as malice or base irrationality what is rational, even reasonable, to believe, if you start from a different place.