Are we living in the age of info-determinism?

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Truth, Knowledge, and “Post‑Truth”

  • Long debate over whether “truth” meaningfully exists beyond trivial facts.
  • Several distinguish:
    • Empirical truths (math, physics, “Biden is president”) as clearly true or false.
    • Moral/existential truths (“rape is wrong”, “a life well lived”) as contested, non-universal, or socially constructed.
  • Some argue there is only belief with varying probabilities; knowledge never reaches certainty. Others maintain truth exists even if no one believes it.
  • Postmodern and Nietzschean arguments appear: “death of God” as loss of a shared reference point; symbols untethered from objective reality → “post-truth” as radical relativism.
  • Counterpoint: saying “truth doesn’t exist” is self-defeating; some claim an ultimate religious truth, others reject that.

Societal Stability, Collapse, and Propaganda

  • One view: a society that abandons truth, especially in science/technology, must eventually collapse or regress technologically.
  • Others say there’s no clear evidence; authoritarian propaganda regimes can persist for decades.
  • Distinction made between:
    • Classic propaganda (single enforced narrative, e.g., wartime Japan).
    • “Post‑truth” as plural, polarized narratives typical of democracies and useful for destabilization.

Authority, Experts, and Media Trust

  • Thread repeatedly returns to loss of trust in “authoritative sources”:
    • Past aura of journalistic professionalism vs. repeated failures, anonymous sourcing, and high-profile errors.
    • Internet and bloggers/FOIA making it easier to catch experts and officials in lies or contradictions.
  • Debate over whether distrust is healthy correction of elite power, or simple willful ignorance and “false authority” from YouTubers and influencers.
  • Some propose stronger enforcement against harmful/illegal speech; others warn this can be weaponized by those in power.

Information Overload, Search, and AI

  • Many note rising noise: harder to find precise, niche but factual data; search results increasingly generic, SEO‑optimized, or paywalled.
  • “Authoritative” is seen as partly a social construct; criteria for recognizing it are unclear and time-consuming to apply.
  • Brandolini’s law is cited: it’s much cheaper to produce bullshit than to refute it; weaponized via books, videos, and online content.
  • AI is viewed both as:
    • Potential replacement for traditional search.
    • New amplifier of convincing but wrong information and large-scale manipulation.

Info‑Determinism and Technology

  • One perspective: we’re locked into technological determinism—if some actors pursue faster, more powerful tech, everyone must follow to stay competitive; opting out is nearly impossible except in tightly bounded cultures.
  • Others emphasize that this is not inevitable but heavily shaped by power and incentives.

Harari, Intellectual Authority, and the Article’s Framing

  • Mixed views on Harari: engaging stylist, but criticized as a kind of “pop expert” outside his formal specialty; defenders argue cross-disciplinary synthesis is legitimate.
  • Several see the article as written from a statist/elite vantage point:
    • Nostalgic for mass media and centralized narrative control.
    • Too quick to equate rejection of authority with rejection of knowledge.
    • Underestimates how many genuine ideas and projects emerge online without state mediation.