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Many people are presented with 2 alternatives: Alternative A) You are an ordinary person with an ordinary job and ordinary pasttimes. You fulfill your role in

Many people are presented with 2 alternatives: Alternative A) You are an ordinary person with an ordinary job and ordinary pasttimes. You fulfill your role in society like everyone else. Alternative B) You have an important mission that will change the course of history, to spread the influence of <insert dogmatic belief system here>. If you are bored, tired of living a repetitive life and have no purpose in life, Alternative B) sounds fantastic. Now you feel needed, you feel special, etc. You have a mission to save the world from the <masks|vaccines|science|microchips|illuminati|devil|5G|...> Conspiracy theories, religious fanatism, extreme nationalism, flat earth societies, sanitary anticompliance (anti-vaxxers, anti-maskers), climate change denial... they all have a thing in common: they are not rational and the people behind them are afraid of rationality and science.

kiba 6y ago
Scientific knowledge is something we mostly take on trust, not through first principle. It is largely impossible for us to operate any other way, no matter how true our knowledge is.
- aspaceman 6y ago
  Yeah it’s an endeavor formed around trust. We have to trust each other.
- 29athrowaway 6y ago
  Scientific publications have citations and the findings in them, whether correct or not, are falsifiable...
bhouston 6y ago
I never though about how it can fulfill peoples need to be important, relevant. But yeah I think that is part of the appeal.
jcranmer 6y ago
> Conspiracy theories, religious fanatism, extreme nationalism, flat earth societies, sanitary anticompliance (anti-vaxxers, anti-maskers), climate change denial... they all have a thing in common: they are not rational and the people behind them are afraid of rationality and science. Actually, I'd disagree. If you dig in to a lot of these theories, there is a kernel of rationality behind them. Many adherents can actually rebut arguments with evidence that makes a surprising amount of sense: there are usually multiple possible explanations for individual phenomena, and if you look at them in isolation, it can be very hard to conclusively demonstrate that the "scientific" answer is actually the best possible explanation. This to me explains why even intellectuals can fall prey to these theories: if you already have a nonconformist streak, the alternative explanations can be interesting to dig into. Where they fall flat is in overall coherence; these theories often end up with massive gaping seams if you try to expand them from explaining one phenomena. And these seams are so obvious, and yet adherents have no coherent explanation for these seams, that it overshadows whatever kernel of rationality the theory originally had.
- loopz 6y ago
  All cults and religions are based on flawed logic, justifying and reinforcing its viral load. Not saying movements don't have some learning and constructive purposes too, but the core of the ideology itself is always full of flawed logic most effective in confusing people.
  - 29athrowaway 6y ago
    Most large religions have something in common: as literacy and population density increases (i.e.: more people independently recording their own perspective on an event), miracles become less spectacular and divine revelation stops. Today we have no more columns of fire, no more prophets... nothing. Legends are passed from generation to generation, and the ones that were more spectacular and entertaining were more likely to be passed to the next generation. So at some moment in history you had a proliferation of spectacular stories and prophets and miracles and divine revelation. But once writing systems are developed and adopted by the general population this no longer happens. Why? Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the most likely reason is because people were making stuff up all along. That's why. Secondly, the afterlife... The reason people believe in an afterlife is mostly because the brain is designed to look for a path to survival at all times. e.g.: You think about going to work because you need income to go to the grocery store so you can buy food which you will eventually cook and then eat = survival. work -> income -> money -> food -> survival. But eventually, the brain learns that all paths ultimately lead to death anyways. The brain, however, has defense mechanisms that prevent it from falling into psychological states that are bad for survival, and those defense mechanisms often involve illogical lines of thought. When this happens, your brain will try to get out of that psychological state by making some shit up, such as "look bro, you will die, but right after that, you will continue living". i.e.: the afterlife, souls, etc. The afterlife, however, is just the beginning. Once you have an afterlife, now you can make rules that dictate what happens there. e.g.: "If you don't pay 10% of your income to me, your afterlife will suck". And once you standardize those rules now you have organized religion.

kiba 6y ago

Scientific knowledge is something we mostly take on trust, not through first principle. It is largely impossible for us to operate any other way, no matter how true our knowledge is.

aspaceman 6y ago
Yeah it’s an endeavor formed around trust. We have to trust each other.
29athrowaway 6y ago
Scientific publications have citations and the findings in them, whether correct or not, are falsifiable...

bhouston 6y ago

I never though about how it can fulfill peoples need to be important, relevant. But yeah I think that is part of the appeal.

jcranmer 6y ago

> Conspiracy theories, religious fanatism, extreme nationalism, flat earth societies, sanitary anticompliance (anti-vaxxers, anti-maskers), climate change denial... they all have a thing in common: they are not rational and the people behind them are afraid of rationality and science. Actually, I'd disagree. If you dig in to a lot of these theories, there is a kernel of rationality behind them. Many adherents can actually rebut arguments with evidence that makes a surprising amount of sense: there are usually multiple possible explanations for individual phenomena, and if you look at them in isolation, it can be very hard to conclusively demonstrate that the "scientific" answer is actually the best possible explanation. This to me explains why even intellectuals can fall prey to these theories: if you already have a nonconformist streak, the alternative explanations can be interesting to dig into. Where they fall flat is in overall coherence; these theories often end up with massive gaping seams if you try to expand them from explaining one phenomena. And these seams are so obvious, and yet adherents have no coherent explanation for these seams, that it overshadows whatever kernel of rationality the theory originally had.

loopz 6y ago
All cults and religions are based on flawed logic, justifying and reinforcing its viral load. Not saying movements don't have some learning and constructive purposes too, but the core of the ideology itself is always full of flawed logic most effective in confusing people.
- 29athrowaway 6y ago
  Most large religions have something in common: as literacy and population density increases (i.e.: more people independently recording their own perspective on an event), miracles become less spectacular and divine revelation stops. Today we have no more columns of fire, no more prophets... nothing. Legends are passed from generation to generation, and the ones that were more spectacular and entertaining were more likely to be passed to the next generation. So at some moment in history you had a proliferation of spectacular stories and prophets and miracles and divine revelation. But once writing systems are developed and adopted by the general population this no longer happens. Why? Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the most likely reason is because people were making stuff up all along. That's why. Secondly, the afterlife... The reason people believe in an afterlife is mostly because the brain is designed to look for a path to survival at all times. e.g.: You think about going to work because you need income to go to the grocery store so you can buy food which you will eventually cook and then eat = survival. work -> income -> money -> food -> survival. But eventually, the brain learns that all paths ultimately lead to death anyways. The brain, however, has defense mechanisms that prevent it from falling into psychological states that are bad for survival, and those defense mechanisms often involve illogical lines of thought. When this happens, your brain will try to get out of that psychological state by making some shit up, such as "look bro, you will die, but right after that, you will continue living". i.e.: the afterlife, souls, etc. The afterlife, however, is just the beginning. Once you have an afterlife, now you can make rules that dictate what happens there. e.g.: "If you don't pay 10% of your income to me, your afterlife will suck". And once you standardize those rules now you have organized religion.