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> Ars writers used to be actual experts, sometimes even phd level, on technical fields. And they used to write fantastical and very informative articles. Who is left now?

What places on the internet remains where articles are written by actual experts? I know only of a few, and they get fewer every year.

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https://theconversation.com/us/who-we-are is one of my favorites. Global academics writing about their research when something happens in the world or when they are published in a journal.

One other thing people might like about the conversation is that it has a bunch of regional subsections so it isn't overrun by US news like a lot of news sites. Well outside the US section of course. I know I personally appreciate having another source of informed writting that also covers local factors and events.

That may be for the technology and science sections. But the politics section is clearly pushing an agenda with regard to the current US administration - even though it is an agenda many people online might agree with. That section is not global, it is US-centric, and it heavily favours the popular side of the issue.

Odd, the Conversation has a version from France (that covers French news), Canada (that covers Canadian news), an African version (that…get this covers African news) and many other editions. I can’t shake the feeling that you just have an axe to grind and that axe is such a huge part of your identity that you’ll change facts to fit your chosen narrative. And you know, that’s very sad - we have these amazing cerebral cortexes and are capable of so much more.

You prefer a "both sides" style of political coverage?

At what point in the slide to authoritarianism should that stop? Where is the line?


I like this aphorism someone once stated on bothsides-ism: When an arson burns down your home you don't pause to consider their side of the situation. Standing up to a bully doesn't mean the bully is being treated unfairly. They're just not accustomed to pushback on their BS and quickly don the caul of victimhood whenever their position is exposed.

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What are you talking about? This had absolutely nothing to do with Israel until you injected that.

what is it about?

Israel is a perfect example of what's being talked about — a bully that acts like a victim to gain sympathy so it can bully you further.

GP is Israeli, so of course he thinks of Israel.


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I thought of Israel because the parent comment was about Israel and I read that comment. I thought that was quite obvious. There's no need to get hostile.

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For the same reason that the Russian province of Donbass has been attacked by Ukraine for its entire existence. Explaining it in great detail would be far too off–topic.

This comment is surely satire?

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> already people were accusing Israel of genocide

It's not like the death tolls reset on that day.

Israel can have the moral high ground when they stop killing huge amounts of people. Calling them out isn't blood libel. Stop making that argument.


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What's the deal with the settlers? That's really where I lose all faith Isreal has good intentions.

I understand from your comment, please correct me if I misunderstood, that you oppose Jews building houses in the West Bank.

The West Bank is a part of the state of Israel that was occupied by Jordanian forces from 1948 to 1967. It was then captured by Israel and many Israelis, many of whom lived there before it was occupied by Jordan, moved (back) there.

The West Bank was settled by both Arabs and Jews before 1948 - for literally thousands of years Jews had lived there. In 1856 many more Jews and Arabs began moving there due to changes in Ottoman law meant to encourage settlement of the area (the Ottomans needed tax revenue). It should be noted that Jerusalem was Jewish majority even before the Ottoman land laws changed in 1856. In 1936 there was a large Arab slaughtering of Jews in Hebron, so many Jews were evacuated from Hebron. In 1948 the Arabs rejected the UN partition plan, and started a war. Israel won that war, and thus became the sole successor state of Mandatory Palestine. Jordan occupied part of that successor state (the West Bank). In 1952 (I may have the year wrong) the Arab league declared that no Arab assistance would be provided to those displaced in the war, because only the suffering of those displaced will cause the destruction of the Zionist Entity. In 1964 the Soviets advised a group to represent the Arabs of the West Bank, the Gaza strip, and those displaced in 1948, and that group adopted the name Palestinians to refer to the populations it represents. Israel conquered the Jordanian-occupied territory in 1967 after Jordan attacked Israel, two months later the Arab League adopted it's policy of No Peace, No Negotiation, No Recognition of Israel. In 1995 the West Bank was divided into separate areas. Predominantly Arab areas were given autonomy for self rule, under the Palestinian Authority (mostly PLO) with the intention of all parties to see the establishment of an Arab state called Palestine after final borders and other issues are agreed. Predominantly Jewish areas have Israeli rule redeclared in three year cycles, pending final border agreements. Every single final border solution has been rejected by the Arab side, who have also employed extreme violence both in rhetoric and in actions.

Where in all this are the Jews who live in the West Bank a reason to "lose all faith" that Israel has good intentions. Israel's first intention is to secure the safety of her citizens, just like any other nation. Israel has committed to, and taken reasonable steps to, establish a separate state for those who demand Arab rule.


Or the other side of at what point into ending capitalism in favor of socialism should that stop?

Yes, I enjoy "both sides" coverage when it's done in earnest. What passes for that today is two people representing the extremes of either spectrum looking for gotcha moments as an "owning" moment. We haven't seen a good "both sides" in decades


I see the capitalism vs socialism as a spectrum with valid debate all along it.

I don't see how one honestly argues in favor of an authoritarian government


Ahh, you must be using the rational definition of socialism and not the extremist corrupted use as cover for dictators.

I always try to go for the rational version of stuff

i don't think these are as contradictory as you make them out to be

I'm not pointing out a contradiction. I am pointing out that this site - which otherwise seems great - it heavily promoting the popular-online side of a very controversial subject.

It looks like they know how to grow an audience at the expense of discourse, because those adherent to the popular-online side will heavily attack all publications that discuss the other side. Recognising this, it is hard to seriously consider their impartiality in other fields. It's very much the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect.

"Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the "wet streets cause rain" stories. Paper's full of them. In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know."

-Michael Crichton


That’s interesting to me because my trust in Consumer Reports was heavily eroded when I read a review on computer printers that was basically all wrong and wondered if any of there other reviews could possibly be trusted.

Consumer reports is really good at following their methodology, but you really need to read and understand their methodology, because it's often completely worthless.

A perfect example is toilets - I don't care at all how well a toilet flushes golfballs, because I never flush golfballs.

https://www.terrylove.com/crtoilet.htm


> - it heavily promoting the popular-online side of a very controversial subject

Any specific examples? I took a quick browse but didn't find anything that fit what you're talking about, and what you're saying is a bit vague (maybe because I'm not from the US). Could you link a specific article and then tell us what exactly is wrong?


I'm not from the US either, but I see much vitriol against their current president and his policies. And not a single article in support.

When one side says it's raining and the other side says it's sunny, it's not the journalist's job to represent both sides. It's their job to look out the window.

Agreed.

And when I look at the issues being discussed, I do not see something so clear as rainy or sunny. I see one side of contentious issues - issues with good arguements for both sides.


Your window might be fogged up.

You might consider dispensing with the analogy and tell me in clear language. I don't know exactly what your objection is.

Bias has nothing to do with which "side" is discussed more. Bias has everything to do with whether the discussion reflects the truth. Was the weather analogy not clear enough?

Alice says it's raining. Bob says it's sunny. It's raining. The news says that it's raining. Is it bias? Should the news say that it might be raining or sunny?


So is the sunny argument recognising that there are large numbers of illegal immigrants in the US and violent US citizens that benefit from their exploitation protecting them?

Or is the sunny argument recognising that murdering protesters instead of detaining them is not good policy?


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Huh, what are you referring to? Why does it matter so much what I think and say?

I really hope _this_ quote is not fabricated - because what a fantastic quote!!


> What places on the internet remains where articles are written by actual experts?

The personal blogs of experts.


Examples? :)

First one that comes to mind is https://morethanmoore.substack.com/

Run by a Dr. Ian Cutress. Never heard about before, seems to describe themselves like this:

> Industry Analyst, More Than Moore. Youtube Influencer and Educator.

Seems they're one example of the sad trend of people going from being experts and instead diving into "influencing" instead, which comes with a massive list of drawbacks.


Ian wrote a lot of in-depth technical reviews and articles at Anandtech. He’s not a nobody.

https://archive.is/2022.02.18-161603/https://www.anandtech.c...


Damn, for someone asking specifically for experts with blogs, you sure have harsh opinion of experts with blogs!

Aren't they all making YouTube videos now? It's basically the best place to get paid for making expert content.

techbriefs, photonics spectra, photonics focus, EAA Sport Aviation? I don't think it's going to be anything super popular, to become popular you have to appeal to a broad audience. But in niches there is certainly very high quality material. It also won't be (completely) funded by advertising.

lwn.net?

The London review of Books frequently has domain experts writing their reviews.

TFT Central is still very good imo.




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