‘Accuracy nudge’ could curtail Covid-19 misinformation online
Who decides what information is accurate?<p>There are many purveyors of misinformation. I think the CDC and the WHO are rather dishonest about viruses. All they recommend is washing hands and wearing gloves and &quot;social distancing&quot;, so that we can &quot;flatten the curve&quot; and &quot;slow the spread&quot; and survive long enough for a vaccine to become available for &quot;herd immunity&quot;, so that we can prevent old people who are likely to die of something soon anyways from dying of Covid-19.<p>I refuse to believe that Science hasn&#x27;t figured anything else out about how to be healthy. One doctor&#x27;s video about Chloroquine said it works by carrying zinc into cells [3]. Maybe zinc supplements would be preventative? I don&#x27;t know, I&#x27;m just a simple retired taxi driver. Why doesn&#x27;t the CDC provide an official list of known anti-viral lifestyle adjustments, to help us all be resilient against inevitable viruses?<p>There is a difference between official misinformation, well-intentioned Chicken Little-ism, and those who are just along for the ride and follow whomever they find most credible.<p>Chicken Little [0] meant well, he was just a simple chicken who didn&#x27;t understand what he experienced, and was adept at recruiting followers to his simplistic ideology: The sky is falling! The terrorists are coming! The super-virus is going to kill us all!<p>Official misinformation is when the news media deliberately misleads its audience: &quot;Cheeto Hitler only got elected because the Russians helped him&quot;, when in fact Hillary Clinton manipulated the DNC [1] to be the Democratic party&#x27;s presumptive nominee in spite of her having a fraction of Bill Clinton&#x27;s charisma. Imagine how that election would&#x27;ve turned out if the Democrats had held a primary rather than a coronation. IMHO Cheeto Jesus&#x2F;Hitler (Donald Trump, depending on your perspective) won the election because he ran an smart campaign, unlike his opponent [2].<p>My latest readings of the situation in Italy is that they are likely to have to restate the cause of death of many of their recently deceased, so that Covid-19 is only a factor instead of the primary cause. I don&#x27;t think they&#x27;ll admit to irresponsible medicine: oxygenating and ventilating old people to death.<p>But it&#x27;s too late: official misinformation has grabbed onto the preliminary statistics and used it to shut down the economy. In a video I watched earlier today, a German doctor said Covid-19 (SARS v2) is not even as potent as SARS v1 or MERS (the super-viruses of years past). Maybe I&#x27;ll find that video and submit it here.<p>People believe things fervently, and it&#x27;s difficult to get us to believe more accurate things. Accuracy is objective, but also a matter of perspective. Most of us are just along for the ride.<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Henny_Penny" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Henny_Penny</a> (Europeans: &#x27;Henny Penny&#x27;. Americans: &#x27;Chicken Little&#x27;)<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.politico.com&#x2F;magazine&#x2F;story&#x2F;2017&#x2F;11&#x2F;02&#x2F;clinton-brazile-hacks-2016-215774" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.politico.com&#x2F;magazine&#x2F;story&#x2F;2017&#x2F;11&#x2F;02&#x2F;clinton-b...</a><p>[2] <i>Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton&#x27;s Doomed Campaign</i> - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;books.google.com&#x2F;books?id=OmS0DgAAQBAJ" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;books.google.com&#x2F;books?id=OmS0DgAAQBAJ</a><p>[3] <i>Chloroquine Is a Zinc Ionophore</i> - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&#x2F;pmc&#x2F;articles&#x2F;PMC4182877&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&#x2F;pmc&#x2F;articles&#x2F;PMC4182877&#x2F;</a>