I love my wife and children. I love radio. I love chocolate HobNobs. I love teaching my students.
Each of the above statements is true. Each carries a nuanced meaning. "Love" means something different in each context, as is readily understood in human communication. There are varied meanings, and many more than fifty shades of grey.
Now replace "love" with "like". Go online, to what is cynically called social media. The nuances vanish. I have a binary option; I can "like" something, and instantly tell Google or Facebook HQ to deliver more of the similar to me in their endless, automated infinet battle to keep my eyeballs locked. Or I can ignore it, thereby ensuring I see "less like this" in future.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat. Babies, cute pets, mundane food and inspirational quotes. It would be so utterly trivial if it wasn't so important. I'm now seriously worried for the future of understanding, in a binary world which is becoming dangerously polarised.
