The essence of online discourse was lost when Netizens lost the will to COMPETE for dominance

Social media academic Antonio Contreras tweeted something that captures the lost essence of online discourse… “In the academe, we don’t block people who disagree with us. We prove them wrong.” (or something to that effect).

See, the thing with online discourse nowadays is that people no longer see it as a competitive landscape. Ideas need to COMPETE for dominance. And it is only the forces that work within said competitive environment where intelligent resolution emerges.

Remove that spirit of competition and we get the intellectually-bankrupt ecosystem of echo chambers and inbred cliques we see today. Nothing gets resolved because no ideas are exchanged COMPETITIVELY.

Then again, perhaps nothing does get resolved on the Net. Ever. But content on the Net does influence people. And, ultimately, that’s the goal, right? To influence public opinion in a manner that converts votes.