The incentive structure of social media is broken. Every day, I encounter posts that rely on erroneous journalism, make factual assertions without evidence, or straight up cite made-up numbers.

Every day, I laboriously click through links and use Google to find the underlying studies, and correct the errors. But it takes me 10X the amount of time to find and share the truth as it does for people to simply post erroneous and illogical posts based on their biased view of the world.

And because most people now live in bubbles of shared opinions, for every comment that tries to offer facts, their are 10-100X as many comments by those with similar opinions, celebrating those posts simply because they reinforce their beliefs, without ever bothering to subject them to any shred of objective evaluation.

No wonder many people retreat to the comfortable armor of partisanship. No need to work; just stick with your tribe and say the right things, and the bubble around you will shower you with praise and support.

If you still believe in the value of facts, and that you need a better reason to hold your beliefs than “because that’s what I think”, please say so. I could use the encouragement. And please do so for others.