Oddbean new post about login | logout You beat me to it 😅
I think the silence on the topic tells us a lot as the signal CEO has opinions on many tech, privacy, censorship things: google employees protesting google’s military israel ties, tiktok and the dc swamp reaction, and “censorship” - see post below. nostr:note10p23h8yzh7xc0xccgn30kke04py4xyr5djgr3kxttj9trqv0q5dqs24pjy I hope and will be happy if the CEO of Signal @Meredith Whittaker can right the record of a censorship maxi chair of Signal’s board. Conversely self-censorship on the topic will speak even more loudly.
It’s probably worth reflecting that a dedication to freedom technology does nothing to change our basic tribal instincts. There are threats to freedom from the political left and threats to freedom from the political right. Our tribal nature means most of us tend to be relatively hypersensitive to the transgressions on one side, while relatively inattentive to the transgressions of the other. The problem with KM is that she’s explicitly advocating that we give the tribal mindset free reign to control our understanding of the world, which is a recipe for disaster. The question is whether we let the tribal mentality take over or whether we strive to keep it in check.
Agree. NPR glorious leader clearly stands against freedom of speech. I hope Meredith disassociates.
The tribal mindset (I sometimes call it the “social” mindset) is like the immune system: it serves a purpose, and we cannot survive without it. Claiming you’re not at all tribal is like claiming you don’t have an immune system. You’re incorrect, and it would be really bad if you were correct. But it needs to be kept in check. If you put it in charge and let it run amuck, very bad things happen. Like the Chinese cultural revolution, just to name one example.