It's All About Moderation

The Post-Big Tech World

It plays out like a science fiction movie. As the MAGA Collective began its mass exodus from the Big Tech Empire planets to the sanctuary planet Parler, there was a disturbance in the Force.

“I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.”

Except, the movie we are watching isn’t Star Wars, it’s the Matrix. Big Tech just gave the Red Pill to millions of conservative Americans, and the middle finger. Add to this Silicon Valley’s supply chain dependencies on China/Asia, pandemic and geopolitical forces that are putting pressure on those supply chains, and the plot thickens.

So, I’ve been experimenting with Clubhouse, the latest exclusive yet inclusive social media phenomenon. I hosted my first room yesterday, “Asian Americans and Psychedelics.” Jade Netanya from MAPS and Serena Wu from the Plant Medicine Law Group were my co-hosts and moderators. I scheduled an hour, I ended it after 90 minutes, with about 25 people in it, and the room easily could have run all day and night. I made some new friends and connections, and it was awesome.

Clubhouse is creating an interesting culture of community moderation. Rather than using the Big Tech algorithm methodology of trying to control the moderation problem by scaling bigger and bigger black box deep learning networks that they already don’t understand and trauma floors filled with wage slaves, Clubhouse has decentralized and incentivized the role of a good moderator. The Clubhouse co-founders and team also directly participate, hosting rooms on the best practices of good moderation, Q&As about the platform, and general discussions.

There are a few overarching Clubhouse rules:

First, we unequivocally condemn Anti-Blackness, Anti-Semitism, and all other forms of racism, hate speech and abuse on Clubhouse.

Second, we celebrate the fact that Clubhouse is not one single community, but a network of interconnected and diverse communities.

Each room also has its own rules. My favorite so far have been the rules from Philosophy Club:

• there are no rules

• the first rule is a lie

• don’t believe the second rule

The platform then gives moderators tools to have civil discourse about difficult topics, and allows the community to listen in on the rooms, or raise their hands to share their views and experience. Clubhouse seems to be forming a pocket dimension for discussions in the Matrix. It’s been a very interesting place to learn and listen.