Yet... here I am at work, posting on a wifi connection called SKYNET... so it actually IS a thing!at least he's not arguing that Skynet currently is a thing
Yet... here I am at work, posting on a wifi connection called SKYNET... so it actually IS a thing!at least he's not arguing that Skynet currently is a thing
I do seem to say "I'll be back" from time to time...CONFIRMED: @TaLoN is one of the machines sent here to destroy us all
I do seem to say "I'll be back" from time to time...
Well said!Your average person does not know what skepticism is and do not use the term correctly. To be a skeptic is to withhold judgement on something until it is demonstrated to be factual, or at least the best explanation available. With the scientific method, for example, it's critical to withhold judgement until you can make observations, test and verify them. When someone claims to be a skeptic in response to established facts, established scientific theories, etc., they are not being a skeptic, they are being incredulous.
Or how about everytime a new piece of document or ID is issued... "they just want to assign us a number!""They just want to inject me with trackers," said the guy posting from a public ISP, carrying around a traceable cell phone in his pocket everywhere he goes.
"Yea but these new trackers will record and transmit biometric data", said the person walking around with a Fitbit or similar fitness watch."They just want to inject me with trackers," said the guy posting from a public ISP, carrying around a traceable cell phone in his pocket everywhere he goes.
Or use their smartphone health app to track their walks/ runs/ workouts, pulse and oximeter readings etc."Yea but these new trackers will record and transmit biometric data", said the person walking around with a Fitbit or similar fitness watch.
That probably also has a facebook page where his every move online is tracked, regularly searches in google resulting in the same..."They just want to inject me with trackers," said the guy posting from a public ISP, carrying around a traceable cell phone in his pocket everywhere he goes.
What people call the "weird" is all those instinctual mechanisms that the "modern is superior" crowd have been dismissing for years not realizing ancestral instincts and deep intuitions are more proven heuristics than "reason" and "science", even if we are not to discount the two latter as useful tools for sophisticated tasks. It's the tyranny of reason basically.
Respect astrology as an heuristic even if you don't believe in it. It is time-tested by virtue of it's long-term survival. Most people pay a few bucks and feel good for a few days. Like going to the movies. Or it's a front for finding someone to talk about your issues, a space psychology as a field tried to occupy. Or it fills people's desire for mysticity or spirituality. Or for certainty. Regardless, it works for some societal function. Then some minor % of people have an unhealthy relationship with it, like almost all activities. Doesn't change what I said. "But BenchBrawl, it's not scientific". So?
There's quite a jump between astrology and ''5G controls the virus and Bill Gates is putting nanobots in the vaccine to control us all''.
Not at all when stripped to its skeletal form. Putting aside the issue of schizophrenia or related psychotic/paranoid illnesses, there isn't. It's just an heuristic, or probably a bunch of heuristics, be it the desire to belong to some group, some tribal antagonism, the need for certainty, a channel to project your fear on, whatever.
Astrology just managed to have some sort of essence inside it that made it a channel that survived from generation to generation, meaning it's a better channel than most of those that disappeared and were "one hit wonders" of their time since they lacked a lasting power.
That's like saying addiction to Pepsi (astrology) and addiction to heroine (conspiracy theories) is the same thing.
Paranoïa, too, serves a very important societal function (but it can also go astray in individuals). Paranoïa survived because those that survived were paranoïd enough to pass on the gene, consistently so. I'm personally happy that some % of humanity is paranoid about Bill Gates, despite me not being so.
1. Natural selection pretty much stopped in humans thousands of years ago when we became a society.
2. Paranoia is not purely genetic.
3. Most conspiracy theorist would not be diagnosed with a paranoia disorder.
Regardless, I'm not here to write a thesis, it's clear what I'm aiming at. It is good to have a % of the group be fearful of dangers that look far-fetched, but that if they occurred, would cause a disproportionate amount of damage to the group (ruin).
As you say, most conspiracy theorists don't suffer from a mental illness. That means they are functional (to varying degrees, like non-conspiracy theorists). So that means their conspiracy theory heuristic serves a purpose either to them or to the group or both. You can also see a bunch of them being able to use reason very sharply in some field, then claim totally irrational conspiracy theorists and believe in them dead seriously. You see already the limit of reason. Reason is like a sharp knife, useful for a surgery. Otherwise, it's not the end all be all. The conspiracy theory side serves some emotional or instinctual purpose, for the individual and for the group (that would need to be unpacked more clearly, but that is probably a work for a decade and maybe a life).
Conspiracy theorist contribute nothing positive to society by believing garbage. Let's agree to disagree.
"They just want to inject me with trackers," said the guy posting from a public ISP, carrying around a traceable cell phone in his pocket everywhere he goes.
I completely disagree yeah, so agreed. The contribution is "meta" but it is there. Like psychopaths contribute nothing to society, but the psychopathic element in our diversity serves a purpose for some situations that increases our overall chance of survival in the long run. Is rational what boost your chance of survival.
View | Fact | New View/Action |
healthy | Gained 20 Covid pounds | Not healthy. Need to lose weight |
Racist | 1st Black President elected | What? Maybe he wasn’t born here though so it doesn’t count? Ok, yeah. Let's go with that. Get validation from birther movement |
Lots of people I know work in Coal, as did my family | Climate change will be deadly | Says here, Climate change evidence is sketchy and it’s a green conspiracy. Coal production is ok. |
Vaccines=bad | Need a COVID vaccine to create immunity | Vaccines are part of a global conspiracy. No way will I take something that is part of a global conspiracy. |