David Cooper (host)

Is that like me showing up to a dinner party, saying something hateful, angry, and then the whole night the conversation becomes that?

I'm kind of fascinated, but also kind of horrified by this idea that hate can travel faster than calm, reflective commenting.

Is that a technology problem?

Is that a psychology problem?

Is that wrong with us?

Like, is this human?

I don't consider the Guardian a particularly polarized media outlet, but there are many out there, especially here in North America.

On those, the comments get even wilder, I find, especially when they're unmoderated.

Is there a way we can use technology to get people to cool off?

Like, I don't know.

I've been on the platform Reddit, and it sometimes says, hey, you've commented too much.

You've got to wait 10 minutes.

Or maybe like some sort of captcha image where the user has to prove they're not a robot, but that process might take 30 seconds.

Side note, not having bots comment might also be a good thing.

I'm not sure where that enters the conversation, but like what I'm asking, is there a cooling period we can enforce users to have?

And if we do, they might be less hateful.

Yeah.

I mean, philosophically, comments online are supposed to create this democratic conversation.

But in reality, hateful stuff gets amplified.

Hateful stuff, it seems like it gets posted first, which can then set the tone for the whole thing.