The obsession with "bias" in general, and with stereotypes, and discrimination, and "representation" and identity-based grievance by a segment of sometimes very vocal people -- both in academia and online in social media -- is a minor theme in a game I've been building [SB: see below.]
Also the idea of "Official, Correct, Allowed Opinions", in general. And propaganda and peer pressure. The game is meant to entertain, sure, but also to help educate and influence, and stimulate critical thinking and skepticism. It does this in part via parody but also via other in-world mechanisms like demonstrating cases where "The Emperor wheres no clothes" or via opportunities to have a Socratic dialogue between characters, in-game. Indeed the ability to question, second-guess, test and confirm, is the key behind the success of science and really all major advancements in history. Its important we stay faithful to it, and never let it be corrupted by fraudsters or self-dealing populists. (imo, anyway.)
I do believe climate and democracy are the world's top two dangers today. Everything else should be a far lesser priority for us to talk about or try fixing. And that the recent hyped AI breakthroughs, if anything, are more likely to greatly amplify pre-existing dangers to democracy -- to make our world worse, rather than better.
One of democracy's dangers, however, is the growing deployment of adversarial propaganda. Another is the increased feeling of an inability to operate on a single, shared mental map of our world. (Both a real gap and an imagined one.) Certain "actors" out there seek to stir our emotions 24x7, to sow tensions where none need be prior, and to enflame hate and trigger violence (eg. stochastic terrorism.). And they do this in part by amplifying certain "annoying" things which many voters can naturally get upset about. Or build a kind of tribal identity upon: Us vs Them. Us Good, Them Evil. Therefore we should all strive to contribute far less to those forces, to give them far less of our precious focus, time and energy.
And... build-up personal defenses against whichever bits of this toxic brew that still manages to get through into our info input feeds, daily. Thus my own little project -- to help make a little dent.
Also the idea of "Official, Correct, Allowed Opinions", in general. And propaganda and peer pressure. The game is meant to entertain, sure, but also to help educate and influence, and stimulate critical thinking and skepticism. It does this in part via parody but also via other in-world mechanisms like demonstrating cases where "The Emperor wheres no clothes" or via opportunities to have a Socratic dialogue between characters, in-game. Indeed the ability to question, second-guess, test and confirm, is the key behind the success of science and really all major advancements in history. Its important we stay faithful to it, and never let it be corrupted by fraudsters or self-dealing populists. (imo, anyway.)
I do believe climate and democracy are the world's top two dangers today. Everything else should be a far lesser priority for us to talk about or try fixing. And that the recent hyped AI breakthroughs, if anything, are more likely to greatly amplify pre-existing dangers to democracy -- to make our world worse, rather than better.
One of democracy's dangers, however, is the growing deployment of adversarial propaganda. Another is the increased feeling of an inability to operate on a single, shared mental map of our world. (Both a real gap and an imagined one.) Certain "actors" out there seek to stir our emotions 24x7, to sow tensions where none need be prior, and to enflame hate and trigger violence (eg. stochastic terrorism.). And they do this in part by amplifying certain "annoying" things which many voters can naturally get upset about. Or build a kind of tribal identity upon: Us vs Them. Us Good, Them Evil. Therefore we should all strive to contribute far less to those forces, to give them far less of our precious focus, time and energy.
And... build-up personal defenses against whichever bits of this toxic brew that still manages to get through into our info input feeds, daily. Thus my own little project -- to help make a little dent.
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[SB] - https://synystrongames.itch.io/slartboz