Technical Reporters | Beyond Intractability

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A window into what we collectively know about more constructive ways of handling the intractable conflicts that threaten both our relationships and our societies.

Masthead

A window into what we collectively know about more constructive ways of handling the intractable conflicts that threaten both our relationships and our societies.

Welcome to the New Beyond Intractability
Find out about the recent upgrades to BI including our new Constructive Conflict Guide which organizes BI content around a framework for analyzing and then limiting or solving conflict problems, focusing particularly on hyper-polarization and threats to democracy (from both the left and the right).

Welcome to the New Beyond Intractability
Find out about the recent upgrades to BI including our new Constructive Conflict Guide which organizes BI content around a framework for analyzing and then limiting or solving conflict problems.

7. Massively Parallel Roles & Tasks

Technical Reporters (as well as interpreters and educators) play a key intermediary role in helping translate the technical jargon found in most scientific analyses into language that the public can understand. They also often emphasize the practical implications of studies and the reasons why they should (or should not) be seen as trustworthy. In so doing, they help us understand "what the science says" as well as the many uncertainties surrounding the limits of that knowledge. They also help bridge other gaps that exist between between experts and the general public. For example, they help us understand how AI systems like ChatGPT work and what they can and cannot be expected to do. They can also teach us what we really need to know about statistics and how not to be misled by them. They caution us about the dangers of being overly certain about our beliefs regarding technical (and other) issues. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, they explain the advantages of being hard on the technical aspects of a problem, but soft on the people involved in the debate over how best to deal with controversial issues.

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Organized links to the thousands of outside resources describing elements of the massively parallel effort to strengthen democracy and constructively handle intractable conflicts. More...

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