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This week, I talked with the great Elle Griffin about “free speech in the age of social media.” Elle is a writer, essayist, and general polymath who writes the excellent newsletter The Elysian. I would highly recommend following her work and Substack.
We talked about a wide range of topics, including:
* What ismisinformation?
* Is the misinformation problem worse today than in the past?
* Why is censorship bad? And why is free speech good?
* In what ways is misinformation symptomatic of deeper problems like polarisation and institutional distrust?
* Should we treat online spaces like public parks?
* How can we design social media platforms so that they encourage prosocial behaviour? (Elle had some very interesting ideas here).
* In what ways is the enforcement of “epistemic norms” (e.g., against lying) different to the enforcement of other norms (e.g., against littering)?
* Do we really want social media platforms to be free of conflict? Should all platforms be comfortable?
I got a lot from the conversation and hope people enjoy it.
