Ask HN: What do you think about internet echo chambers? - doorbellguy
======
mindcrime
How about you seed the conversation by telling us what you think about
internet echo chambers?

~~~
eesmith
Hopefully also addressing the question: is HN an internet echo chamber, and
how do you tell?

~~~
charlesism

        Ask HN: What do you think about internet echo chambers?
    

This makes me sound like a knee-jerk contrarian, but I think the majority
opinion is wrong. _Echo chambers are good!_ When you have too wide a chasm
between points of view, you spend all your time bickering about surface
issues. But if you speak to people who already agree with you on first
principles, you can have a deeper discussion.

For example, a doctor and homeopath are less likely to have a productive
discussion about health issues, than two doctors, or two homeopaths. A doctor
and homeopath are just going to argue over whose profession is the worthless
one.

    
    
        is HN an internet echo chamber
    

Sure, moreso than most other sites, in that people on HN are better educated
(and therefore more liberal) than the average social network. But I'd prefer
it if the opinions were still less diverse.

    
    
        and how do you tell?
    

Since I seldom see users threaten each other with physical violence here, I
assume it's more of an echo chamber than most other websites.

~~~
eesmith
My view is that "echo chamber" is a meaningless phrase meant to malign people
who you disagree with, but who generally agree with each other.

I don't know what the majority opinion is. I figure it's different for
different people, which is why I asked the one who posted this question to
gives a more meaningful description.

What is your definition of an echo chamber? It obviously includes "a place
where people don't threaten each other with physical violence."

BTW, you wrote "HN are better educated (and therefore more liberal)"

That is a conjecture. Engineers and tend to be more conservative than even the
nation as a whole, and HN has many engineers. (See for example
[https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Engineers_and_woo](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Engineers_and_woo)
.)

~~~
charlesism
Fair enough. I ought to have omitted the "(and therefore more liberal)" since
it's a bit inflammatory. Either way, in comparison to other communities, HN
users tend to be more academic, etc.

