In the glow of the remix's mechanics potential, where every post becomes a canvas for collective evolution, the call for 'switches' to erase unwanted layers rings hollow and stands as a shadow of systems some of us are trying to leave behind.
I wholly celebrate remix as quote-tweeting on steroids, a tool that bull-runs engagement and democratizes narrative. Yet introducing deletion mechanics betrays the core promise of onchain building: resistance to censorship.
What starts as a safeguard against hate speech morphs into a weapon silencing dissidents, survivors trying to speak again predators, people trying to challenge violent cycles from patriarchal domination, or anyone fighting life and limb to buck fascist tides. I stand against hate and fear being a dictator of our actions, but the goal of true equitable and egalitarian society demands we expose those shadows, not bury them deeper.
In the spirit of forging onchain worlds that honor every voice is heard without the iron fist of erasure, which again many of us came here to build a different future, we can lean first on user-empowered muting tools that let individuals curate their own feeds while preserving the full, unalterable record for those who choose to engage. If people want to be an asshole onchain, let them be an asshole onchain, and let history determine where they stand.
There also can be layered visibility through community driven tags and decentralized reputation scores that could flag potential harms with warnings or contextual notes (not so much shadowbanning the content though becasue that is just another soft form of censorship). This fosters informed navigation rather than blanket removal but allow room for issues to be addressed. I think of how with Microsoft CoPilot, I asked for a goth meme image that said the word die. Instead of blocking the whole image from generation, it just didn't generate the word die in it. I had to edit in, which I laughed the whole time doing it but it got me thinking how this small change in moderation could open up a better system that doesn't descend into censorship as quickly.
With CoPilot not generating the word, it's complying with its' safety protocols which we have put into AI to not wish things like death on people. In the context of a goth meme, it's not a threat but a reflection of thousands years of art centered around trying to cope with and understand death which we all have to deal with, just like we all have to deal with fascist, hateful, or violent ideals because these things impact us all.
This surgical moderation, instead of a sledgehammer, could even be made more transparent with the AI responding "this word was not generated due to my no making images telling people to die protocol". Like explicitely state what is the issue, instead of the opaque systems that exist now.
The best part of this transparency is, then I could have a conversation with the AI about it, find out why those mechanisms are there, explain my viewpoint of why this meme is not dangerous, even share the micro-moderation public to have further discussion. (this is exactly what I did and am doing). When this happened, I didn't feel censored, I felt misunderstood, but it also made a great meme to showcase a better way and prove my point.
This even spurred an idea of an onchain "artistic license" where if an individual shows they have basic education in global art history (not just western centric), basic art skills, basic understanding of copyright law, and basic ethics training (which these ethics could be determined by an ecosystem DAO Governance, universally agreed upon rules of conduct, ie Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that preserve free speech, while protecting those voices that get silenced or erased the fastest) I'm granted a soulbound token (no buying and selling these) that can show to systems I'm operating as an educated, world wise artist in good intentions even if topics delve into normally taboo or heavily moderated subjects.
Other solutions as opposed to heavy handed punitive "off switches" are to embrace and celebrate incentive structures, like buy and hype post tokens of those you agree with or normally are pushed aside for louder angrier voices or onchain badges for thoughtful contributions beyond monetary rewards. These might naturally amplify positive discourse and drown out toxicity through collective uplift.
There is also education. Integrated education modules on media literacy, propaganda, history, and psychology could equip users to confront and evolve hateful ideas in the open, turning clashes into catalysts for growth. These also could all have onchain soulbound tokens badges rewarding people for taking the time to study these things in a variety of ways. There could even be moderator badges, that instead of ban hammers, they are trained to moderate disputes for resolutions to move forward instead of the same arguements happening over and over again.
All these can and should be enabled on a per wallet instance, not demanding KYC if operating within all onchain structures, because then people are rewarded and judge for their character and not their identity. KYC obviously can come into play with something that ties to traditional system ~ like my BFA in Art, Drawing, Animation with a focus on the history of women in art and propaganda through the ages and sustainbility certificates ~ I have to KYC so you know it's me unless someone can come up with a clever solution to verifying things like this onchain without KYC.
Additionally, algorithmic tweaks on a personal and system level can happen to ensure engaging with the voices YOU want to amplify. They can be designed for diversity amplification, not just popularity amplification, to ensure no single echo chamber dominates through bad actors, bots, or just trolls who don't give a fuck. More voices means those full of hate advocating for violence and stripping of rights of their fellow humans get drowned out, not more censorship. This all can be achieved with a little bit of effort from everyone to weave in underrepresented perspectives to balance the scales and taking a moment to design more nuanced systems for the benefit of all of humanity.
If we lose freedom of speech, we lose a free and fair society. We need to do everything in our power, knowledge, data, history, and collective experiences to preserve it in new systems being built for EVERYONE.
Thank you for taking the time to read my words -- <3
Until next time, stay real and curious
Empress Trash 🖤
New to Web3? Here Are Some Guides:
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Getting Started with Art on Bitcoin
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