[moralestapia]

>but the discussions are becoming increasingly pointless

And hostile.

Point out that someone is wrong (even with hard evidence at hand) and people will still try to push their deluded conclusions nonetheless.

Same thing for expressing an opinion outside what the hivemind deems acceptable.

Btw, I think this phenomenon is a widespread cultural thing, not HN specific. Happens irl so much that it is now almost impossible to have an actual conversation with anybody.

Meanwhile, solitude and suicides are skyrocketing and people do not see the correlation ...

[adolfojp]

I've seen what you're describing and it worries me deeply.

I think it's a combination of:

1. Ragebait being so useful at generating engagement that it's become a standard form of human interaction

2. The Internet making people feel safe from physical repercussions which makes people feel comfortable with treating others badly

3. Internet communities quickly becoming echo chambers where you're forced to pick a side if you want a sense of belonging

So we've been programmed and manipulated to be angry, to be tribal, and to act without fear of retaliation, and all for what? For ads and followers.

[moralestapia]

Oh man, this is a very interesting take.

Indeed, it is definitely the case that this kind of behavior/content gets amplified. When you log in, in some sense, any reality could be crafted just for you, for good or for bad. The overwhelming majority of people are vulnerable to this. What they see == what they think it's real, me included, btw.

I once read an article about how the vast majority of dating now begins through an online interaction (say , Tinder), and how also the vast majority of these apps are controlled by 2-3 companies. Think about the massive power they have over everyone else's lives. You want to encourage interracial relationships? Suppress matches within the same race and encourage matches outside of it. (And the opposite could be done, I'm not making a political statement here). These people have the power to completely change the demographic landscape of a country in a couple decades(!). They should be heavily regulated, but far from it, no one is even aware of this.

It will only get worse with "AI", unfortunately.