The Great Vanishing of Information. August's Open Thread. By A Midwestern Doctor (08/08/24)

midwesterndoctor.com/p/the-great-vanish…

A Midwestern Doctor (AMD) reflects on The Forgotten Side of Medicine Substack’s hitting an enviable 100,000 subscribers by focusing on in-depth research, always following the Golden Rule, and staying anonymous.

In this "open thread," the doc explores how the internet has gotten bigger each year, while finding quality information has become increasingly difficult for three main reasons:

1. The ruling class (and their corporatocracy) recognized that the internet threatened their power; therefore, this group had to curate (censor) what information it showed people.

2. An ideological capture of Silicon Valley.

3. Successful institutions and societies become complacent from their success and quality degrades.

AMD expands upon these points and shares some of the strategies for navigating this tangled web of half-truths. Topics covered include:

• Overcoming Misinformation

• Archetypal Gestalts (people mimicking the behaviors of their group)

• The Woke Mind Virus (a term popularized by Elon Musk to indicate "political correctness" gone amok)

• Search Result Censorship

• Where Can We Find Information Now? (gaining information literacy plus specific recommendations):

  • Search Engines

  • Health Databases

  • Books

  • Miscellaneous Websites

  • Mentors