Conspiracy Theories

[Tero]

Academic QAnon expert
https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/phditto/

[Tero]

More:
Ditto says a million years of evolution pushes people to break into groups with like-minded people.

“We're very tribal. We're very provably attached to people who are like us. It's very, very unusual to have a place where you're supposed to make friends with, and connect with, and cooperate with, people who don't look like you and don't have the same values. Maybe they have a different religion,” Ditto says.

https://www.voanews.com/amp/usa_all-abo ... 02150.html

[Brian Peacock]

Sounds a bit like preparation for a naturalistic fallacy to me.

[Tero]

Yeah, I never quite get the tools of the trade in history, humanities. If you ask them, they say they are using "critical thinking."

In the old days school history books were simpler. You just had to lay blame on this and that group for stuff that happened in the 1900s.

[JimC]

Sounds a bit like preparation for a naturalistic fallacy to me.

To me, the naturalistic fallacy is when aspects of human behaviour are supposedly controlled absolutely by some sort of biological imperative. I suspect it was a reaction to the "blank state" version of sociology, where no aspect of human behaviour came from biology, it was all via socialisation. Both, of course, are examples of what one might call the "single factor fallacy"

I think it highly likely that many aspects of human behaviour are influenced by genetic factors deriving from selection during our evolutionary past. These would vary to a degree between humans, and would only operate as tendencies; as such, they can be modified or supressed by experiences during life and rational reflection.

Humans having a tendency to trust people like those you grew up with, and to be distrustful of those who are very different from one's normal in-group would not be at all surprising. As indicated above, of course it can be over-ridden, especially if one recognises any such tendencies via self reflection (not something that those who engage in conspiracy theories are likely to do...)

[Brian Peacock]

Indeed. Behaviour (the action) is within the province of our evolved nervous system, but what occurred to trigger the nervous system into action? We'll that's the province of sensory stimuli, much of it unconscious, along with what may (or may not) have occurred in the previous minutes to days before the act to change the sensitivity of the nervous system to such stimuli. That's the province of endocrinology and genetics I guess. And yet while all these biological factors are rooted in the evolution of our ancestors and the environments they inhabited the biological story of why we (or others) act in this-or-that way doesn't seem to interact with the cultural and/or social conditions in play at the time an action occured. I felt that the snippet above was pulling the 'it's natural for humans to be tribal andmake and tribal decisions' schtick, as if this somehow has explanatory force wrt Qanon - which of course it doesn't.

[NineBerry]

[Sean Hayden]

The world isn't getting crazier. If anything there have been more frequent outbreaks of sanity. If you could step outside your well informed, and well educated bubble, you'd see just what a freak you are.

[Hermit]

The world isn't getting crazier. If anything there have been more frequent outbreaks of sanity.

Looking at the long term you are right, but social developments do take retrograde steps, and we are in one of those periods right now. Attitudes regarding vaccination is just one example. Nobody tried to connect the massive rollout of polio and smallpox vaccinations with the intention of governments to deprive us of our right and freedoms.

If you could step outside your well informed, and well educated bubble, you'd see just what a freak you are.

That is uncalled for.

[NineBerry]

Nobody tried to connect the massive rollout of polio and smallpox vaccinations with the intention of governments to deprive us of our right and freedoms.

Yes, there were and are people who do that.

[Hermit]

Nobody tried to connect the massive rollout of polio and smallpox vaccinations with the intention of governments to deprive us of our right and freedoms.

Yes, there were and are people who do that.

Nowhere near the ratio of today's antivax nuts, you freak.

[Sean Hayden]

The world isn't getting crazier. If anything there have been more frequent outbreaks of sanity.

Looking at the long term you are right, but social developments do take retrograde steps, and we are in one of those periods right now. Attitudes regarding vaccination is just one example. Nobody tried to connect the massive rollout of polio and smallpox vaccinations with the intention of governments to deprive us of our right and freedoms.

If you could step outside your well informed, and well educated bubble, you'd see just what a freak you are.

That is uncalled for.

You == us == me (though I don't tend to consider myself quite as well educated or informed)

[L'Emmerdeur]

In the 'wouldn't you fucking know it' department:

'Anti-5G necklaces found to be radioactive'

Necklaces and accessories claiming to "protect" people from 5G mobile networks have been found to be radioactive.

The Dutch authority for nuclear safety and radiation protection (ANVS) issued a warning about ten products it found gave off harmful ionising radiation.

It urged people not to use the products, which could cause harm with long-term wear.

There is no evidence that 5G networks are harmful to health.

The World Health Organization says 5G mobile networks are safe, and not fundamentally different from existing 3G and 4G signals.

Mobile networks use non-ionising radio waves that do not damage DNA.

Despite this, there have been attacks on transmitters by people who believe they are harmful.

The products identified included an "Energy Armor" sleeping mask, bracelet and necklace.

A bracelet for children, branded Magnetix Wellness, was also found to be emitting radiation.

[Sean Hayden]

I remember when sleeping in or under pyramids was a thing.

[rainbow]

I remember when sleeping in or under pyramids was a thing.

You're that old?