Solving the problem of online debate.

The Problem with Online Debate

“Engaging with a wide range of opinions is essential for democracy. The U.S. has forgotten the essential value of compromise, which starts with listening to, and acknowledging, the legitimacy of different points of view.

“Filter and preference bubbles will continue to undermine basic democratic processes, like deliberation and compromise, until something comes along to break users out of them.”

– Roger McNamee,
Co-founder of Silver Lake and Founder of Elevation Partners

At Thinkifi we believe that the current platforms for online debate suffer from a number of problems that make it difficult to have reasonable debates about ideas. We’re committed to offering a better way.

  • Noise. A low “signal-to-noise” ratio for content makes it difficult to distill knowledge from information.
  • Bad Moderation. Existing moderation solutions either (1) allow content that should be suppressed, (2) suppress legitimate content that should be allowed, or (3) don’t scale.
  • Privacy Problems. Data is owned by the social platforms and sold to advertisers, leading to a non-existent user privacy and increased surveillance.
  • Abuse of Anonymity. Anonymity can be misused to make unconstructive, often hurtful, comments without consequences.
  • Trolls. Users that behave provocatively and unconstructively (including by using fear, intimidation, and bullying) detract from the user experience for those seeking clarity and knowledge.
  • Bots. Automated participation (bots) results in a lack of trust in content and content signals (upvotes, downvotes, likes, etc.).
  • Faulty Business Models. Existing business models incentivize content that promotes anxiety, fear, rage, and disinformation rather than knowledge and truth.
  • Advertising. Ads detract from the user experience and distract from clarity and understanding, especially when they can’t be distinguished from real content.
  • Amoral AI. AI is being developed hastily without morality, amplifying bad behavior and misinformation.

The Thinkifi Pledge.

Join the wait list.

Thinkifi is in limited release to qualified users.
Add your name to the list of people who are trying to solve the online debate problem.

Thinkifi.

The world is desperately in need of a better answer to the problem of constructive online debate. Thinkifi believes – with your help – that we can make it happen.

Contact

info@thinkifi.com