3 ms·
> More intelligent people can play host to far more sophisticated parasitic memes. Educated adults are less likely to believe that lizard people rule the world
by archduck 6y ago
> More intelligent people can play host to far more sophisticated parasitic memes. Educated adults are less likely to believe that lizard people rule the world
There's evidence that highly educated people are _more_ likely to believe in the Qanon conspiracy.
Belief isn't just shorthand for "checking out the evidence and making claims about the world on the basis of the probability of that evidence." There can be a will to believe whatever supports your social or material interests that trumps reason. We are now living in post-epistemological times.
Interestingly, at the end of the article he brings up pro wrestling and remarks on not believing it anymore. But this kind of credulity is almost the opposite of what pro wrestling is all about - you have to buy in to take part (kayfabe). Everyone does, everyone knows it.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- exo-pla-net 6y agoWhat's your source that more educated people are more prone to buying into Qanon?
- archduck 6y agoThe original source is over a hundred pages of polling data, so I won’t link to that. https://m.slashdot.org/story/381628 https://m.slashdot.org/story/381628
- exo-pla-net 6y agoThey aren't scientists. And their conclusion is not just false; it's the opposite. If you have a college education, you're proportionally much more likely to have a "very unfavorable" view of QAnon. (26% with no college degrees, versus ~42% with college or higher). How did the journalists get it wrong? 1) They fixated on a poorly worded polling question: "How accurate or inaccurate are the claims made by QAnon?" (I myself believe that QAnon's claims are "somewhat accurate", in a similar way that I notice that broken clocks are correct twice per day.) 2) They failed to notice that non-college-educated people overwhelmingly account for people who are "unaware" of QAnon. It could be inferred that education correlates with worldly awareness, and hence the ability to have opinions on obscure topics. In conclusion, don't trust popular press. Journalists lack the analytical skill and incentives to accurately report on science, much less on raw data. https://xkcd.com/882/ https://xkcd.com/882/