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I’ve so much I want to say to this. Maybe I should start scheduling some coffee chats once in a while. 1. Agreed. Information should never be weaponized. This requires a deeper embrace of all of our essential human essence. (We’re interconnected and what harms one will inevitably harm all. Just a matter of time). Unsure when, if ever, humanity will get there. But this is the hope of our evo-socio-cultural love of info (adaptive infophilia). 2) Yes, we saw the Silicon Valley culture of ‘make and break’ and ‘disruptions’ in an early essay in American techno-science - your « burn it all down » « take your chances. » Your connecting infophilia to humility as opposed to narcissism is 💯 right on. I’ve not yet drawn on political psychology but FBI Post with Doucette (2019) Dangerous Charisma: The Political Psychology of Donald Trump and his followers (2019) book first few chapters do explain.

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Nov 9Liked by Anita Coleman

Great stuff again. Two comments: First, I believe that information should never be weaponized. While we may well use information to persuade, when we turn it into a tool to cause damage or to win dominance over others, we are in territory opposite to infophilia. Second, Musk, like the president-elect, is reckless to the core. His relationship to information is to bypass the counsel of outside expertise in favor of a narcissistic belief in the power of his gut. This creates a "burn it all down" or "take bold chances" mentallity that minimizes the complexity of problems and generates an "I alone can fix it, and I'll do it quickly" approach. Infophilia and naricissim cannot co-exist, because infophilia demands humility and reliance on others.

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