research methods

The Open Question April 1: How do you decide what to trust? Right now, today, when you see a claim online or hear something from a friend or read a headline:

• What's your actual process? Do you have one? Do you mostly just feel it? Something else?
• When was the last time you changed your mind about a source you used to trust?
• How much does "who shared it" matter vs. "what the evidence says"?
• Is your trust process different for topics you care about vs. topics you don't?
• What topics do you most outsource your trust?

This one sits right at the center of what we're building here. I'm more curious about our observed, honest responses than our aspirational ones. 

#openquestion 

Open Question March 11: Free Speech, but who draws the lines? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdx9n317Wpw 

Free speech rules and culture today have a huge impact on the future:

• Tech companies + algorithms determine who gets heard in 'public'... so government vs citizen doesn't touch today's real power struggles

• AI: when you can clone anyone’s voice or face, what’s protected and what’s harm?

• Political shifts: old arguments on who's defending or restricting speech (and why) don't hold, making it a topic where fresh thinking actually matters. Eg: The political left (eg ACLU defending neo-Nazis' right to march) used to be standard bearers, where now, the left is more likely to argue that unregulated speech causes real harm to marginalized communities.

This conversation will inform a live interview tomorrow with Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), the leading free speech advocacy and litigation organization in the United States. A graduate of Stanford Law School, he has led FIRE since 2001, growing it from a six-person operation to a 120-person powerhouse, and is the co-author of The Coddling of the American Mind (with Jonathan Haidt)

#openquestion 

Looking for bridges in views about the second Trump administration. I'm currently aware of four views:

• This is the worst thing ever, I'm terrified
• This is the best thing ever, I'm thrilled
• I don't pay attention to politics, so far my life feels exactly the same
• Some of the changes seem pretty cool so far, but we'll see

Where are the middle grounds? I want to know how to build bridges in my personal connections when politics comes up these days.