Freedom of Speech

It seems like freedom of speech is becoming more and more of a pertinent topic. Policy in the UK has them trying to “fight against misinformation” by arresting people who have said things online. Misinformation has been incredibly powerful here in the US as implemented by Russia and even our own government. There is seemingly a new misinformation campaign daily on Twitter. With the rise of AI agents and the ability to deploy autonomous armies becoming more eminent and the obvious success of past misinformation campaigning this new paradigm isn’t likely to change anytime soon.

The UK solution seems more authoritarian than anything and not something I would ever want. A core feature of many low quality of life countries is reduced freedoms of speech and information. Turkey just banned Discord. In the other hand, this endless stream of bullshit is likely making peoples lives worse as well. How many fox viewers are paranoid and terrified of boogeymen? How many people are exhausted and fried from fighting against the endless waves of misinformation?

My opinion is that the internet is the single greatest invention ever. It connects person to person, in real time, across the whole globe while providing the culmination of human history to your finger tips. But I’d also liken it to when Johnny Mnemonic downloaded 120 gigs into his 60 gig brain chip.

So what can be done? Is there a way we can train a population to be more adept at identifying bullshit? Should the government do anything to help alleviate the issue?