Modeling and suppressing Propaganda
This is very much in idea exploration status.
Explore ideas, but regard none of this work as fact. It has not been through the intellectual rigor to earn that respect. Currently I'm attempting to materialize abstract concepts and see how they fit together. I apologize for the chaos that awaits the reader.
Intro
This is the beginning of a framework to understand the impact of information. I have been noticing disturbing trends in YouTube's video recommendations and wanted to understand what is happening.
I'm starting from a general basis that most televised media has distortions from market pressures. These ideas were originally presented in Manufacturing Consent (Herman, Chomsky, 1988). I last read it 20 years ago and need to reread it. I will more formally incorporate their ideas as I progress. I think the ideas aroud propaganda are pretty good. They should make a good starting point for our adventure.
Definitions
- Virtual Identity: The information needed to create an instance of me, like a blueprint.
- Platform: A place such as a social media site where one can create an instance of a virtual identity
- Platform identity: An created instance of a virtual identity.
- Objective Reality: A virtual model of the world as seen by a perfect observer.
- Subjective Reality: An imperfect instance of Objective Reality that we create in our minds.
Realities
Reality in this context is a human concept. It's based on what we perceive as humans. The science of physics tries to decode the underlying truth of the universe. We view this universe from our own perspective and construct mental models based on our knowledge and observations.
The mental model that a perfect observer would create is called Objective Reality. A perfect observer would be like Connor MacLeod after winning the prize in Highlander. Essentially the world as viewed by God.
Objective Reality is like a blueprint to create an instance of reality. The truth.
Humans are imperfect. We do not have a perfect understanding of the world and cannot create a perfect model. We produce imperfect mental models called Subjective Realities.
Subjective Reality is the reality we create in our minds. The world from my point of view.
Measurements and Delta
Random idea fragments for later exploration.
Consider a virtual space defined in context of human reality. Objective reality is the center of that space. Dimensions in this space are things like human emotions or knowledge on a topic. We will assume that there exists some way to measure them.
My subjective reality exists in this space relative to objective reality. On each dimension, there is some delta between objective reality and my reality. These could be expressed as vectors in this space.
Practical examples
- Vector on a specific topic measures a level of ignorance on it.
- I could objectively measure, "Am I more angry than the averge person?"
Information and Propaganda
Information is the data that we process to form knowledge. We process this knowledge to update our subjective models of reality. We seek sources of information that make our models more accurate across one or more dimensions. One of those sources is news.
People consume information to reduce ignorance.
This is true for all information whether we classify it as educational or not. A person is still trying to learn something, even if they completely disagree on the presented view.
Propaganda is information with a specific purpose. Rather than simply presenting information that a viewer processes, it is more specifically designed to change a mental model.
The difference between information and propaganda is in intent. Propaganda attempts to subvert the learning incentive.
Advertising has been classified as a sister form of communication to propaganda. I feel that this is incorrect. Advertising is in fact propaganda in this model.
Timelines
Note: need to name the space encompassing human reality.
It helps to think differently about time here. Imagine time as you might view it from the fifth dimension. From here, it looks like a line starting from an observer's earliest point in time to right now. When I talk about an objective reality it is always in context of some point on a timeline. The default point on a timeline when not specified is at Now.
Timelines are useful when we want to talk about things deviating over time. From any point on the timeline we can talk about how it projects. There's a timeline where I settled down and had kids for example. Timelines projected from a specific reality are called derivative timelines.
We calculate derivatives all the time. Consider a person asking to borrow money. If the person asking is someone I know and trust, my imagined projection will be a timeline where they pay me back. If I do not trust them, then my projected timeline shows that I get stiffed. The output of this model is an input into how I evaluate the question.
We project our reality into the future to predict outcomes.
Radicalization
I grew up and spent much of my adult life doing adult things and not thinking too much about our democracy. I knew how things works and could pass a civics test, I just wasn't very involved. This changed when the second plane hit the world trade center on the morning of September 11, 2001 as I was getting ready for work.
The reality in front of me did not match the reality described by my teachers. The USA were the good guys in the world. Everybody loves us. There were a few people that just hated our freedoms, but nothing major. That doesn't match the reality on the screen.
A person who just hates your freedoms is going to give you the finger when you look in their direction. They are not going to declare war and execute a major complex terrorist operation against your country. One must conclude that the version I learned in school is wrong and must be rejected.
Radicalization: A mental state caused when a person rejects and replaces a fundamental model of reality.
The important thing to understand about this outcome is that the reconstructed model is unconstrained. Rules that were present in the old model are gone and I have complete freedom to arbitrarily override this new model. Propaganda that relies on this underlying model now fails to be automatically accepted.