we’re only good at searching for stuff in whatever language we understand. a lot of the information we are exposed to is from anglophone sources. like wikipedia. what about the wealth of knowledge in other languages? great thinkers need not speak the same language. a stone seems stupid because we think we have no way of knowing otherwise. search engines and social media are corporations. the collective culture of capitalism is an underlying part of corporate decision-making. no one person is an evil overlord. it naturally follows that our search results “follow the money”. individuals act in their own interests and the collective action gives the illusion of agency for the whole corporation. complexity doesn’t necessarily imply agency.

the same complexity is found in online communities. the collective conclusions drawn by online communities reposts of reposts. these may be grossly inaccurate and can even be dangerous for those who use such communities for decision-making or determining public opinion. astute rulers could make use of confirmation bias in communities to give the populace an illusion of control over policy when actually they have no influence. this would be useful if the populace tends to draw wrong conclusions or doesn’t have enough information or education to direct public policy wisely. but if the rulers are inept, then the people are in danger.