Although it’s generally framed as an argument against freedom of speech, I actually think the fact that truth does not generally win in the marketplace of ideas is a reason to protect free speech. If the truth was super persuasive, we could reasonably assume that an ideas popularity in the marketplace of ideas provides strong evidence of its truth, and therefore unpopular ideas are likely false. In reality, the correlation is much much weaker and lots of obviously true ideas are super unpopular, so it’s reasonable to be very cautious about restricting speech. Since in practice, the government will generally only ban unpopular speech and that’s not a very strong signal of truth.
The scary/sad thing about trying to censor speech at universities is that they don’t seem to care if they hit people who aren’t doing controversial research at all as collateral damage. It would be problematic enough if they went after “DEI” academics - but they’re also, inexplicably, attacking people trying to cure cancer because the mice they were using as test subjects have the string “trans” in the name. And, with the Gaza protest stuff, they recently deported a girl who was cleared of taking part in the protests, but just happened to be walking home near the crowd. It makes zero sense, and I have to hope this carnage stops at some point.
Yeah, they're just doing performatively cruel things because the crowds cheer for them. And I think they think they don't need scientists or universities anymore, because AI will give everyone a Nobel-winner-for-hire in the next few years.
That’ll just drive all the scientists to foreign universities, and leave US academia collapsing when it turns out that AI can’t give us Nobel-winners-for-hire. I seriously worry that by the time the next elections roll around, US higher education/research will be a shell of its former self.
I think it is human nature for this to happen: when one group of people who believe a certain way is in charge, they tend to want to marginalize the people who believe the other way, especially if they don’t need the second group to enact what they want to do. Higher education is not immune to this.
Although it’s generally framed as an argument against freedom of speech, I actually think the fact that truth does not generally win in the marketplace of ideas is a reason to protect free speech. If the truth was super persuasive, we could reasonably assume that an ideas popularity in the marketplace of ideas provides strong evidence of its truth, and therefore unpopular ideas are likely false. In reality, the correlation is much much weaker and lots of obviously true ideas are super unpopular, so it’s reasonable to be very cautious about restricting speech. Since in practice, the government will generally only ban unpopular speech and that’s not a very strong signal of truth.
The scary/sad thing about trying to censor speech at universities is that they don’t seem to care if they hit people who aren’t doing controversial research at all as collateral damage. It would be problematic enough if they went after “DEI” academics - but they’re also, inexplicably, attacking people trying to cure cancer because the mice they were using as test subjects have the string “trans” in the name. And, with the Gaza protest stuff, they recently deported a girl who was cleared of taking part in the protests, but just happened to be walking home near the crowd. It makes zero sense, and I have to hope this carnage stops at some point.
Yeah, they're just doing performatively cruel things because the crowds cheer for them. And I think they think they don't need scientists or universities anymore, because AI will give everyone a Nobel-winner-for-hire in the next few years.
That’ll just drive all the scientists to foreign universities, and leave US academia collapsing when it turns out that AI can’t give us Nobel-winners-for-hire. I seriously worry that by the time the next elections roll around, US higher education/research will be a shell of its former self.
Yes, I think that’s a real risk. Germany in the 30s shows how quickly it can happen.
I think it is human nature for this to happen: when one group of people who believe a certain way is in charge, they tend to want to marginalize the people who believe the other way, especially if they don’t need the second group to enact what they want to do. Higher education is not immune to this.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-coronavirus-consensus-was-wrong?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_12897372_nl_Daily-Briefing_date_20250314