Dr Jordan B Peterson’s meteoric rise in popularity has started intense intellectual conversations on topics from free speech to gender politics. Now, after seeing free speech threatened by Big Tech censorship, he worked with experts to create his own platform for people to have just those kinds of discussions.
MRC Techwatch, which covered the creation of this new platform, was selected as one of the first users.
In the initial email sent October 1, Thinkspot was described as:
“a community built around a curated collection of content, with features that enable users to engage with some of today’s leading thinkers. Our mission is to promote meaningful and respectful discourse that foster an open exchange of ideas, inciting users to challenge perspectives and discover interesting and informed viewpoints.”
As the platform stands currently in its beta form, users will be able to:
- Annotate and share video, podcast, and eBook content
- Interact with the community in public and private forums
- Access exclusive content and special live stream events
- Share and exchange ideas with some of the world's leading thinkers
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The e-mail added that from the bert get-go of this endeavor “we value freedom of thought and expression across a wide range of topics, and encourage you to engage regularly with the community and support our growing roster of contributors.”
The account creation process is extremely quick with a brief tutorial on how to use the various features.
The Terms of Service make it very clear that this website is radically pro-freedom of speech and debate so long as there is no illegal activity. The platform’s stated goal “is to provide a place for contributors and audiences to engage in a free flow of ideas, unbound by censorship or ideology.” The Terms of Use described “are intended to protect your right to free speech and our ability to provide a platform for your speech.”
The platform described its intention to serve as an open forum. But it specifically makes clear that “we are not responsible for any content provided by any contributor or users of the Website. We are not actively monitoring or approving any content or comments from contributors or users.”
The caveat, however, is that “we may remove any content or comments from contributors or users at any time if we deem the content is in violation of law or otherwise violates these terms.”
Though the Terms of Use did reassure users how “we will not modify any content or comments. We take freedom of expression seriously. We will therefore not remove content or comments without serious consideration.”
The main page of the website shows a menu of intellectual commentators to follow, podcasts to listen to, and thought-provoking articles to read.
One of the features shown is that users can purchase access to dozens of e-Books ranging from Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life to the Communist Manifesto or Little Women, and be able to converse with other users about the ideas in various passages. Users can also annotate podcasts, adding their comments to specific times in the podcast.
Rather than merely upvoting or downvoting posts, users can also choose intellectually-oriented reactions such as "disagree," "provocative, "insightful," "agree," "like," and "recommend."
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