A short conversation-starting webinar aimed at sustainability scientists but useful for anyone trying to harness the enduring power of Twitter despite Elon Musk's disruptions.
Thank you for all these thoughtful tips and suggestions for how to use Twitter effectively, Andy!
Valuable in and of themselves. And yet more so in the wake of Musk's ownership of Twitter, as the platform's day-to-day environment becomes more variable and unpredictable.
Glad it can be helpful. It’ll be a long time before any other platform has the combined attributes of Twitter. Things could still go completely off the rails, but even if that happens all right since it will be temporary. Thanks for the comment
Thank you for writing this. Here are several disconnected observations/questions:
1. You paraphrased Darwin as saying “as we advance in civilization, our tribal nature will ebb.” Robert Sapolsky or E.O. Wilson are just two scientist authors that come to mind who would disagree with this ebbing of tribalism. I think the tribal nature of primates is deeply imbedded in our evolution. The claim also sounds a bit utopian, alerting me to where the writer might be floating a little too far out from reality.
2. How to use Twitter without being abused by its owner? Really? Do you have any evidence that Musk has been abusing scientists writing about climate change? There are plenty of nuts out there, as you acknowledge, who were there before Musk and will be there after Musk.
3. Musk plans a crowed sourced check system that may or may not work, but if it works isn’t that an improvement over company employees being censors? You mentioned “the extinction of the passenger pigeon was abetted by communication technology”. I’m sure many horrible things in history, for example Hitler and Stalin, have been abetted by communication technology. But hasn’t the overall weight of history provided abundent evidence that the free expression of ideas (not threats and attacks) benefited humanity, while suppression has aided evil (as it did Hitler and Stalin).
4. You mentioned using Tik Tok. Isn’t there a real concern that China’s control of that system is a risk to our country?
These are invaluable points to explore. I was framing this piece mainly for folks who have felt somewhat freaked out by what’s going on. And your point about Darwin and tribalism sure is holding up. I cite that aspirationally really. As I wrote an earlier piece I think it’s important to look at the turbulence right now as the early stage of a journey toward better outcomes with this technology. And I think Musk’s moderation plan, which shares Wikipedia’s approach, could work well in the long run. My November 3 post explored the up side possibilities of Musk’s #twittertakeover https://open.substack.com/pub/revkin/p/all-hail-elon-musk-the-greatest-spur?utm_source=direct&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web I’ll use this comment as the seed for a fresh post in a few days. Thank you.
It's a tool that many find incredibly useful - like me - but that isn't for everyone. The key, as with any tool, is to put it to use when you need that particular set of attributes is necessary (e.g., global realtime connectedness and search capacity that reveals people involved with a question).
"Information environment"? Yeah we got one, well, many. It's good and bad.
Yeah for sure that's an issue. Everyone is in their own bubble of awareness unless they choose to poke a head up.
Thank you for all these thoughtful tips and suggestions for how to use Twitter effectively, Andy!
Valuable in and of themselves. And yet more so in the wake of Musk's ownership of Twitter, as the platform's day-to-day environment becomes more variable and unpredictable.
Glad it can be helpful. It’ll be a long time before any other platform has the combined attributes of Twitter. Things could still go completely off the rails, but even if that happens all right since it will be temporary. Thanks for the comment
Thank you for writing this. Here are several disconnected observations/questions:
1. You paraphrased Darwin as saying “as we advance in civilization, our tribal nature will ebb.” Robert Sapolsky or E.O. Wilson are just two scientist authors that come to mind who would disagree with this ebbing of tribalism. I think the tribal nature of primates is deeply imbedded in our evolution. The claim also sounds a bit utopian, alerting me to where the writer might be floating a little too far out from reality.
2. How to use Twitter without being abused by its owner? Really? Do you have any evidence that Musk has been abusing scientists writing about climate change? There are plenty of nuts out there, as you acknowledge, who were there before Musk and will be there after Musk.
3. Musk plans a crowed sourced check system that may or may not work, but if it works isn’t that an improvement over company employees being censors? You mentioned “the extinction of the passenger pigeon was abetted by communication technology”. I’m sure many horrible things in history, for example Hitler and Stalin, have been abetted by communication technology. But hasn’t the overall weight of history provided abundent evidence that the free expression of ideas (not threats and attacks) benefited humanity, while suppression has aided evil (as it did Hitler and Stalin).
4. You mentioned using Tik Tok. Isn’t there a real concern that China’s control of that system is a risk to our country?
Andy @Revkin
2 min ago
Author
These are invaluable points to explore. I was framing this piece mainly for folks who have felt somewhat freaked out by what’s going on. And your point about Darwin and tribalism sure is holding up. I cite that aspirationally really. As I wrote an earlier piece I think it’s important to look at the turbulence right now as the early stage of a journey toward better outcomes with this technology. And I think Musk’s moderation plan, which shares Wikipedia’s approach, could work well in the long run. My November 3 post explored the up side possibilities of Musk’s #twittertakeover https://open.substack.com/pub/revkin/p/all-hail-elon-musk-the-greatest-spur?utm_source=direct&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web I’ll use this comment as the seed for a fresh post in a few days. Thank you.
Actually, since I don’t use Twitter, I learned a lot from today's post. I sounded too critical before. Thanks.
It's a tool that many find incredibly useful - like me - but that isn't for everyone. The key, as with any tool, is to put it to use when you need that particular set of attributes is necessary (e.g., global realtime connectedness and search capacity that reveals people involved with a question).