Interesting from a science blogger
I believe, like many, that we are living through a dangerous era of untruth, one that will be recognised in the history books as a dark blight on our civilisation. Fascists, charlatans and propagandists are as old as time, but never before have they been mobilised with today's powerful tools, which can coalesce forces globally and amplify messages in a flash. Ne'er-do-wells formerly had their village pub, their back-alley rendezvous, their circus stall – an influence confined by geography to a small canker. Newspapers reached more widely, but still they were binned each evening to yellow with irrelevance. Even the terrible dictators of the past who managed large-scale atrocities were constrained by the limitations of an internet-free world.
Now, it's a free-for-all, and we've all witnessed the shocking spread of lies and the way their sheer frequency has numbed us into impotence. Any one of Donald Trump's dodgy dealings would have brought down any other president, but the creeping paralysis of untruth-overload has de-sensitised the population to his many scandals as effectively as "aversion therapy"– as when an arachnophobe is thrown into a pit with a thousand spiders and soon cured. Even definitive proof that the Russians have been meddling in the elections of Western states and sowing general discontent via social media has met with a collective shrug from the inured populace – while individuals might get riled up, each bit of fake news is just another defused spider to the collected whole.
So it's science to buy the Democratic campaign that Hills didn't lose the election, it must have been stolen from her?
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23 thoughts on "Interesting from a science blogger"
BlokeInTejasInNormandy August 30, 2018 at 9:11 am
"Even definitive proof that the Russians have been meddling in the elections of Western states and sowing general discontent via social media has met with a collective shrug from the inured populace"
Naivety, eh? When the Russians do it it's a Major Thing that should cause eruptions of anger amongst the masses.
But (i) they've always done it – one way or another- and (ii) so does everyone else to nations of interest and (iii) so does the other side in any two-party political fight. That is, the meddling is a fact of life.
You'd think a 'scientist' would know this.
Ah: http://jennyrohn.com
She's actually a writer and 'communicator' who dabbles in science. American-born (sorry Dennis t P :-)…..
Jim August 30, 2018 at 9:11 am
Its odd, the more 'science' goes from inventing cool new stuff that helps people with their lives, to being the reason used to control and tax them, the more people regard scientists as akin to politicians, ie liars.
Mr Ecks August 30, 2018 at 9:19 am
The focus of history will be on the sheer brass neck of lying leftists busy accusing everybody else of being liars.
Rob August 30, 2018 at 9:24 am
The irony is that an article condemning fake news, untruth and misdirection is full of the same.
We just don't believe these people any more.Their credibility is shot – they shot it.
dearieme August 30, 2018 at 9:34 am
It's terribly "me, me, me". But then she is a blogger.
Rob Moss August 30, 2018 at 9:42 am
"Even definitive proof that the Russians have been meddling in the elections of Western states and sowing general discontent via social media has met with a collective shrug from the inured populace."
Well, yes. The CIA and MI6 have been at it for decades. She probably doesn't know that.
Grist August 30, 2018 at 9:54 am
Remember the horse meat scare?
The EU rules applied. If it's got a label on it saying "Beef" it must be beef.
New UK law (coming soon) if it's got a label round its neck saying "female" it's female.
Same here. She's got a label on her blog saying "science" so she's a trained scientist. Simples.
Jim August 30, 2018 at 10:10 am
Hasn't it actually been proved (by people doing real research) that its physically impossible for the Russians (or anyone else) to have 'hacked' the DNC servers remotely? Because the transfer rates of the files supposedly downloaded during the hack were such that there is no internet connection on the planet that can achieve such transfer rates, and it is consistent with a physical download, ie stick a USB drive into a computer and put everything on it? So it had to be someone with physical access, ie an inside job?
And that the only proven hack by a State is in fact Hilary's email server which was hacked by the Chinese and a program installed to send them a copy of every email she ever received on it? How's those shoulders shrugging about that little fact then Jenny?
Andrew M August 30, 2018 at 10:26 am
Ne'er-do-wells formerly had their village pub, their back-alley rendezvous, their circus stall – an influence confined by geography to a small canker.
Not at all. The Catholic Church used to broadcast all kinds of falsehoods across the known world, with severe penalties for those who disagreed. Galileo was placed under house arrest for daring to assert that the Earth goes around the sun. The Bible itself is almost entirely fake news.
Alex August 30, 2018 at 10:55 am
Lying has been standard practice since forever. T'internet simply makes it obvious.
Surreptitious Evil August 30, 2018 at 11:00 am
Any one of Donald Trump's dodgy dealings would have brought down any other president
Really? "Citation needed"!
(See Kennedy, Clinton, etc)
starfish August 30, 2018 at 11:16 am
Maybe that's because the population regards social media with intense suspicion, derision and realises that 99% of the factoids on it are bollocks
And that goes for the output of bloggers like her too
Chris Miller August 30, 2018 at 11:42 am
One of my favourite Bismarck quotes:
Nie wird soviel gelogen wie nach einer Jagd, im Krieg und vor Wahlen.
(People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.)
If we're to review every democratic vote in which fibs were told, we'd have to go all the way back to Classical Athens.
Pat August 30, 2018 at 11:52 am
Well there is definitive proof that Hilary, via. her lawyerss, fusion gps, and Mr. Steele, colluded with Russians to produce a dossier opposed to Trumps interests. We are asked to believe that Hilary's Russians were unwilling to invent things just for a nice paycheck, and were independent of the Russian government but no evidence, never mind proof is forthcoming.
We seem to have reached a point where anything out forward by authority is regarded as science.
Gunker August 30, 2018 at 12:57 pm
Newspapers reached more widely, but still they were binned each evening to yellow with irrelevance
She inadvertently hits on the truth here. Pre-internet days, you would have had to visit the library / newspaper morgue to see if people had changed their outlook. Nowadays, a brief internet search is enough to show you that most politicians are hypocrites, and a good number of the PTB too.
Imagine being so deranged you think it's plausible that a political novice who was roundly opposed by both party establishments, vastly outspent, spied on by the sitting President, and had the entire world's media crawling up his backside in a desperate attempt to find dirt… could have somehow stolen the US presidential election in collusion with a retarded potatozone country whose best recent attempts at espionage amounted to sending over Russian brides in an embarrassing caper the FBI described as "bungling on a truly epic scale".
Daniel Ream August 30, 2018 at 3:16 pm
Well, no. I've seen the original numbers and they're well within the bounds of a 1 Gbps transfer rate, which is common in any medium-to-large city. There may be more context that gives the lie to that, but the transfer speeds alone are not indicative of anything.
Sam August 30, 2018 at 3:20 pm
What Steve said.
Also, though I'm not a MAGA type I at least understand what die-hard and lukewarm Trumpistas believe: since they and their political interests have been shat upon for a couple decades or more Trump's base supported a strong man who doesn't take shit from the Left. One's agreement with that strategy is irrelevant to understanding the base's indifference to Trump's scandals and especially his "scandals". I understand diehard Hillary backers and the sycophantic Obamabots of 2008-2016, though I despise them. It takes willful obtusity to not understand partisan wagon circling.
He fights partisan enemies unapologetically. That he is an immoral elite NY Democrat ensconced in the establishment until about 10 minutes before the 2016 election is irrelevant, since what he says and how he says it appeals to the Right political hemisphere. Not being another pol helped too.
Sort of like how all collectivist fighters for the hard-working proletariat seem to be comfortable bourgeois layabouts…
Pcar August 30, 2018 at 7:26 pm
@Jim, August 30, 2018 at 10:10 am
@Daniel Ream, August 30, 2018 at 3:16 pm
An upto 1 Gbps transfer rate downstream is what is available on ADSL. An SDSL 1Gbs would cost way more than DNC could justify ~$1,000pm
AndrewC August 30, 2018 at 9:35 pm
@Sam
"…Trump's base supported a strong man who doesn't take shit from the Left."
Where is such a person in the UK when he or she is so needed?
When are the supposed right politicians going to wake up to the fact that the left don't and won't listen and won't and can't change?
Bloke in North Dorset August 31, 2018 at 7:58 am
"An upto 1 Gbps transfer rate downstream is what is available on ADSL. "
It's been a while since I did any work on ADSL but the maximum speeds then were in the 10s of mbps, which is why the move to get fibre to the kerb or even Home/Office.
Even with FTTC 200m away I can only get 60mbps.
Happy to be corrected though.
Gamecock August 31, 2018 at 6:13 pm
'I soon developed a thick skin as the vitriol and personal attacks rolled in, familiar to any writer in these times – especially the female of the species who dares to express a reasoned opinion in public.'
You soon acquired a thick veneer of lies. The 'vitriol and personal attacks' were because you said STUPID things. Instead of reviewing your beliefs – introspection – you determined the problem was instead that you are female. Until you recognize the actual problem, you will never fix it.
Personality disorder – your problems are someone else's fault.
@BiND
I was trying to keep it simple. 1Gbps is fibre (FTP) and is available in Washington DC
1Gbps down & up usually ethernet over fibre
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