Living in Interesting Times. Twitter-Watching discussion on how to avoid nuclear war in real time

It’s more than “interesting”. It’s downright amazing! That we can watch -- via Twitter -- some of the smartest people in the world, some of the most influential people in the world, some of the most consequential people in the world, discuss how to avoid going nuclear over Ukraine. 

Love or hate Twitter, surely that’s a good thing.

Elon Musk has tweeted a proposal to bring peace to Ukraine. Gary Kasparov, the former chess world champion -- and a Musk fan -- criticises the proposal. He had a spat with Elon over it. Others have come in on either side. And this is happening in real time, on Twitter. 

Will this influence the decision makers? Most certainly. It already has, Ukraine president Zalensky is in this Twitter battle. But better battle on Twitter than on the ground with nukes. Right??? 

Note: Musk has donated $US80 million in StarLink Satellite dishes to Ukraine. And $0 to Russia. Yet he’s been trolled as repeating “Kremlin talking points”. 

It may be that Putin needs an “exit ramp”. A Musk-like proposal might have the makings of an exit ramp. While giving significant victory to Ukraine over the course of the war. 

But my point here, is what an amazing thing it is that we can watch these people argue and agree, haggle and hate, dispute and discuss, right in front of our eyes. Right there, in real time. Hoping, as we do, that we avoid another 1914 or 1939.

Following this on Twitter, you have to make sure you’re tuned in to the right people. That you follow the consequential ones, the smart ones, and you need to make sure you cover all sides, as it’s all too easy to be blinded by confirmation bias, by cognitive dissonance and only “Follow” those who reflect your own views. You have to avoid that. Make sure >30% of your Follows are people on the "other side".