The Information One-Way Street

The Internet is no longer an information superhighway.

Nov 03, 2023

I remember when the Internet first became available, it was often referred to as “The Information Superhighway.” It has since become an Information One-Way Street. Allow me to explain.

Over two decades ago, the Internet was a libertarian paradise (especially since libertarians dominated it at the time). It was an informational Wild West where information, opinions and ideas flowed freely. Back then, there was no censorship and almost no tribalism. What mattered were ideas. As a libertarian, I remember occasionally visiting websites as diverse as Al Jazeera, RT (which is run by the Russian government) and Common Dreams (a progressive site). Although I often (or usually) didn't agree with what they posted, sometimes they provided some good information or valid arguments.

What I remember most about the start of the new millennium was how optimistic almost everyone was. The Internet was a huge reason for that. For the first time in human history, people would have instant, affordable access to the vast majority of the world's information. No longer could anyone get away with telling lies. No longer could governments hoodwink their population into getting involved in a war. No longer would there be any Holodomors, Holocausts, Great Leap Forwards, Cultural Revolutions or Killing Fields because people could learn from history and investigate the validity of their government's claims.

Contrast the freedom and optimism of 2000 with the grim circumstances in which we now find ourselves. Ironically, despite gigabit-speed Internet, many thousands more websites, and dirt cheap hard drive storage, facts, information and opinion have never been harder to find since the Internet began. The slow death of the Information Superhighway began on September 11, 2001, and it became effectively a one-way street on January 6, 2021.

Who do I blame for this? First, the Deep State and the .1% elite who control the government. Not content with their massive and unprecedented wealth and power, they have been pressing their advantage hard on Flyover America, and are now trying to squeeze blood from a turnip. They know that the facts and reason are not on their side, and so are doing everything possible to suppress them.

Second, the Millennial employees of technology and media companies (and the leftist college professors who indoctrinated them). I will never understand why someone would choose to work in the information technology sector, only to be primarily concerned with censoring and restricting the flow of that information. They're like the firemen in Fahrenheit 451, who instead of putting out fires, rush to set fire to unapproved books.

I do a lot of searches for terms in my web browser, and in recent months and years, I've noticed that it has become nearly impossible to find a link to a source that has a conservative or libertarian point of view. Instead, I get pages and pages of search results from media outlets that are dominated by statists. And today, even at media outlets such as Forbes and the Wall Street Journal, there are plenty of left-wing reporters and writers. And I don't even use Google's search engine, I usually use Duck Duck Go. Recently I became so desperate for information from a non-statist source that I did a search for that. I found 4Libertarian, which is so unrefined and limited that when I use it, I feel like a Soviet dissident reading samizdat.

I just told a computer geek about this, and he suggested I use the new Goggles feature on Brave Search. According to Brave, “While Brave Search doesn’t have editorial biases, all search engines have some level of intrinsic bias. Goggles allows for users to counter any intrinsic biases in the algorithm. Brave Search is committed to openness in search. It does not manipulate its algorithm to bias, filter, or down-rank results (unless it’s compelled by law to do so). Contrast this with the world’s two largest search providers—Google and Bing—who openly manipulate their rankings based on political leanings or other factors.”

To use Goggles, go to Brave Search, type in a term you want to search for and press Enter. On the next page under the search field, click Goggles on the right side. Then beneath that, click on (for example) “News from the Right,” which should bring up a list of links that have content about your search term. Wow! It's an extra couple of steps, but it actually makes the Internet usable again. No longer can Big Tech make content they disagree with virtually invisible to Internet users.

Another shocking change to both news stories and encyclopedia-type entries is how instead of reporting on something or trying to explain it, they seem to be primarily concerned with explaining what is not true or factual, like some weird press release straight from Big Brother. Instead of reporting or explaining what X is, the article or entry basically says, “X is not Y.”

Everything is binary: true or false, verified or debunked, fact-checked or discredited. Forget about the Scientific Method and the never-ending search for Truth, because “fact-checkers” have at last divined the truth. “The science is settled,” so no further testing of hypotheses or theories (especially “conspiracy theories”) is needed. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. These aren't the droids you're looking for. No need to do any further research and reading of your own (not that you could even find any contradictory information anymore on the Internet anyway), just take our word for it. The human brain loves this solution, because it saves it scarce mental energy that could be used for, say, watching TikTok videos instead.

In the real world, Truth is usually elusive, nuanced and complicated. No one has the ability (or the right) to declare that they have found the final truth, especially when the answer has a profound effect on the lives of hundreds of millions of people. “I have found the Truth, so all contradictory evidence should be censored.” What chutzpah! How and where does someone come to have that attitude? Maybe an Ivy League public administration program?

And get a load of this: In recent months, a few COVID authoritarians—the same people who wanted to put you in a camp or take your children away from you for refusing their “safe and effective” vaccine now want grace and forgiveness for themselves. Do you see how this works? If you disagree with what I say is the Truth, you get sent to the gulag. But if it turns out that I was wrong, we'll just let bygones by bygones. I'll tell you what, let's make a deal. We'll give you grace if you and all of your Really Smart wannabe tyrant friends promise to forevermore simply abide by the first rule you learned in kindergarten: Keep your hands to yourself. Do you think you can do that? Yeah, I didn't think so.

Ironically, in order to come closer to the Truth (because we will never fully reach it), we need more information and debate, not less. For example, if COVID “vaccines” are really safe and effective, and you support them, then you should have no problem with other people presenting counterfactual information. The marketplace of ideas will determine what is closer to the Truth and what is not. There is no need for “fact checkers” and “flaggers.” The Truth will out itself. People can figure it out themselves as long as they have the information.

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