The filters have been used by mainstream media, TV news in particular, to boost profits through endless stoking of fear in their viewers. But it seems to me that the feedback loops of echo chambers have morphed from FOMO (Fear of missing out) to fear of exclusion. We've reached the point where even the poorest people can have a mobile phone with which to tether themselves to the Internet. Relying on the feedback from their own particular echo chamber keeps them from recognizing the reality that we are speeding headlong into life-changing events. Now that virtually every part of life involves an Internet, which requires reliable sources of electricity, it seems pretty clear that life could get very difficult very quickly if the fossil fuels run out before we have sources of electricity that don't require them.
The filters have been used by mainstream media, TV news in particular, to boost profits through endless stoking of fear in their viewers. But it seems to me that the feedback loops of echo chambers have morphed from FOMO (Fear of missing out) to fear of exclusion. We've reached the point where even the poorest people can have a mobile phone with which to tether themselves to the Internet. Relying on the feedback from their own particular echo chamber keeps them from recognizing the reality that we are speeding headlong into life-changing events. Now that virtually every part of life involves an Internet, which requires reliable sources of electricity, it seems pretty clear that life could get very difficult very quickly if the fossil fuels run out before we have sources of electricity that don't require them.
Ah yes, the need for long-term, broad-view thinking that we humans are so good at ;).