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Why are there so many science nuts?
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BaldFriede View Drop Down
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    Posted: April 25 2019 at 15:01
Creationism has become quite a fad lately; apparently a lot of people don't believe in evolution. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. If you do a little research you find lots of people publishing videos in which they "prove" that the earth is flat (with unbelievably stupid arguments and ridiculous "experiments"), claim that gravity does not exist (it is all electromagnetism), deny the existence of atoms, believe in geocentrism with the earth standing still, reject the idea that dinosaurs ever existed and so on.

Some of these people are perhaps just attention seekers who will do anything to get their moment of fame and don't really believe in their silly claims. But there are definitely a lot of people who really believe this nonsense (some people even believe in two or more, even all of the stupid hypotheses I listed).

I call out to you so-called sceptics: Let us not stop there! Why don't we question the existence of oxygen and revive the phlogiston theory? Or prove that women are definitely more stupid than men, something that was clear to everyone in the good old days? Or tear down the idea of the sun being a star when it is in reality just a gigantic bonfire? There is a lot to do to free us from false sciences like quantum physics, astronomy, chemistry and more of that silly stuff. Unite and fight now!


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I think most of those videos are posters looking for any money grab from lots of views and trying to sell ads, and as you say moment of fame. But most if not all of them are moments of delusions......My youngest who is away at college will watch them when bored "he says" LOL, but he has stronger opinions than yours about the posters.
It's amazing to me the volume of open time people have on their hands, to create these videos let alone the imagination to spin their claims into "truth". 
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Originally posted by Catcher10 Catcher10 wrote:

I think most of those videos are posters looking for any money grab from lots of views and trying to sell ads, and as you say moment of fame. But most if not all of them are moments of delusions......My youngest who is away at college will watch them when bored "he says" LOL, but he has stronger opinions than yours about the posters.
It's amazing to me the volume of open time people have on their hands, to create these videos let alone the imagination to spin their claims into "truth". 
 


Yep.  I couldn't agree more.  
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These people always existed but the difference is that now they use the internet to shout their batsh*t crazy theories and they reach audiences far more diverse than ever before in human history. I'd like to think that most of it is simply an attempt to make a little cash but I fear that way too many people actually believe this stuff. It's healthy to question the status quo and sometimes science doesn't (yet) have all the answers but some of these people are truly scary.

Edited by Jeffro - April 26 2019 at 04:30
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All of the so-called natural sciences of today are based on arbitrary ontological assumptions.
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Edit: highly cynical nonsense removed.

Edited by Barbu - April 26 2019 at 17:53
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Hi,

This is not fun, for me, at times.

I don't find this a return to "science" since that would seem to suggest a certain amount of education, and the majority of the thoughts and ideas that come out, are so far out of the equation as to not be worth the mention or discussion.

What I find strange is that some intelligent folks will take a lot of this information and give it some relevancy by replying to it, thus adding to the credibility and value of what the original poster said ... 

I'm a believer in some education ... not always the whole thing, since some of the academic world in the higher levels is totally insane and stupid and have as much validity as Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny! (Best example -- you gotta see the fights between theater departments and english literature departments about Shakespeare. One thinks theater has to be done with totally clean sh*t and a forceful iambic pentameter pissing, and the other thinks that it prevents me from playing Hamlet with aids, or Sir Ian Mckellen on a Jeep asking for a horse for a kingdom on his way out! 

But, the one thing I have seen in my life in 3 different countries is that education is for the cats and dogs, and emancipation of the STAR ego is what it is all about ... thus money is more important than your ideas, or mine! Ohhh ... wait ... even better .... your favorite got to number 3 and mine was not even in the listing or the poll! But my choice was from Brazil, not England, therefore it can't possibly be good! Or an art!

There ... true science for you! And pretty soon, the design and idea of who is the true GOD will finally come alive in the hands of someone or other country ... ohhh wait ... that's not a science .... !!!!!
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We are plunging into dark ages rapidly. I may be some sort of tin foil hatter myself: my alleged similarities to a silverback or a chimp do not keep me from being a creationist. In fact, I even think phlogiston may have a bit more substance than evolutionism.

But the worst is yet to come: I live in a small country where many seem to think that we can blaze the trail in the fight against global warming while the wind comes from abroad. The threat of a financial bloodletting to reduce the temperature by 0.00007°C is at hand. Not too far from my place, Gretel Thunberg, a wee lassie who seems to think that her habitat on a higher northern latitude will ignite when the average temperature goes up just a tiny bit more, marched in front of some Soros-jugend through the streets of Brussels and is set to warm the laps of the likes of Junck and Timmerfrans. (I'll pass my bet that she'll be this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner to the bookmakers - the crown on a year of extensive child abuse).

Pseudo-science and controlled media are a hypergolic propellant.



Edited by someone_else - April 27 2019 at 03:37
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unfortunately I know a few people who have been taken on by the absurd notion that all the manned missions to The Moon were somehow faked.  Of course none of the conspiracy theorys about that notion stand up to any kind of scrutiny, but they still adamantly believe this nonsense. 
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Originally posted by someone_else someone_else wrote:

But the worst is yet to come: I live in a small country where many seem to think that we can blaze the trail in the fight against global warming while the wind comes from abroad. The threat of a financial bloodletting to reduce the temperature by 0.00007°C is at hand. Not too far from my place, Gretel Thunberg, a wee lassie who seems to think that her habitat on a higher northern latitude will ignite when the average temperature goes up just a tiny bit more, marched in front of some Soros-jugend through the streets of Brussels and is set to warm the laps of the likes of Junck and Timmerfrans. (I'll pass my bet that she'll be this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner to the bookmakers - the crown on a year of extensive child abuse).

Okay hold on here, take it from someone who was made a documentary project about the viability of energy transition locally up in Groningen where I've interviewed a good number of experts and politicians, and who has been reading and watching discussions on the subject quite a bit before and after: even though a lot of people have a naive and optimistic mindset about what we can achieve as a whole, many if not most of the technology that needs to be implemented saves a lot of money on the longterm and strengthens us on the international market, as plenty of other countries have already shown, and the depletion of fossil fuels forces us to make some of these transitions regardless. On top of that, we're the 17th biggest economy in the world, and our impact shouldn't just be underestimated, directly and as an example.
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It is human nature to believe in conspiracy theories or other baseless beliefs.

If an event is difficult to comprehend or random, the human brain tries to assign a simpler explanation to make it comprehensible, less threatening, and allow the individual to feel more in control.

It may be difficult for individuals who don't comprehend physics and engineering to comprehend the moon landing. No way that could have been accomplished with 1960's technology, right? It must have been faked. That's the easy-to-comprehend answer.

Autism can't possibly be random. There must be something causing it. So vaccinations must be the cause! It's comforting to know there is a simple, easy to comprehend explanation.

There is also a thing called Proportionality Bias that comes in to play. The bigger the event, the bigger the cause must have been. The JFK assassination was a huge event. It couldn't possibly be due to the actions of one deranged individual. Princess Diana couldn't possibly be a random car crash. We want to assign greater causes to those events that have a big, impactful effect.

And then there is the fact that human emotional reactions are faster than analytical thought. If someone tries to convince an conspiracy theorist that they are wrong, the theorist senses a threat and reacts emotionally by dismissing or arguing the analysis (fight or flight response), rather than calmly assessing the counter argument. It's why you can never convince a conspiracy theorist that they're wrong.

Then there is social media. These wacko theories can now spread like wildfire, the these "social" media provide another human need - feeling social and part of a community. Collaborating with other theorists in these settings is comforting and non-threatening.

And finally, the ultimate expression of conspiracy theory is the belief in religion. Religious teachings explain that random things don't just happen, they provide simple, comforting explanations for everything that is incomprehensible (life, death, creation of the universe, etc), and provide a sense of community (church) for those with similar beliefs.

Basically, humans want simple, comforting, easy answers, that events aren't random. We want to feel in control. And we want to feel that way with other similar-minded individuals.

Fortunately for me, I grew up embedded in math, science and engineering, so I don't have the same need to find simple explanations for incomprehensible or random events. I've learned to control my emotional response and allow my analytical response to act first (well, sometimes at least), and other than PA and PE and a pizza-making forum, I am basically anti-social, so I don't fall victim to rumors on Facebook or Twitter or the other electronic gossip columns. And I gave up all religious beliefs in my teens when the science/engineering part of me convinced me that there is "no need for God as a hypothesis" (adopted from mathematician Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace).

For more about what drives conspiracy theorists, you can consult the research of Dr. Daniel Jolley, professor of psychology at Staffordshire University, who has posted some interesting videos summarizing his findings... https://www.danieljolley.co.uk/research
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People are dumb and it ain't going to get better.
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Points: 19944 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote chopper Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 29 2019 at 06:14
I watched the Netflix documentary on the flat earthers recently, funniest thing I've seen in years.
 
1) the bloke who reckoned the earth must be flat because he could see Seattle across the water.
2) the guy who did an experiment to "prove" the earth did not rotate 15 degrees per hour, but it proved the opposite so he just ignored the result.
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Originally posted by Cambus741 Cambus741 wrote:

unfortunately I know a few people who have been taken on by the absurd notion that all the manned missions to The Moon were somehow faked.  Of course none of the conspiracy theorys about that notion stand up to any kind of scrutiny, but they still adamantly believe this nonsense. 
 
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Originally posted by Man With Hat Man With Hat wrote:

People are dumb and it ain't going to get better.

^This.....
as R A Wilson once said..if you take the average person on the street...by definition 50% of the people are dumber than that.

LOL
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Originally posted by BaldFriede BaldFriede wrote:

Why don't we question the existence of oxygen and revive the phlogiston theory? 

Cambridge leading philosopher of science Hasok Chang is rather keen on phlogiston these days. In case you're interested, see from around 16:50 here:
http://www.lse.ac.uk/philosophy/blog/2017/05/17/hasok-chang-a-pragmatist-conception-of-reality/
(I think I'm in the audience there, though not visible.)





Edited by Lewian - April 30 2019 at 16:11
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Speaking of Robert Anton Wilson, I love his Illuminatus! trilogy.
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Originally posted by BaldFriede BaldFriede wrote:

Creationism has become quite a fad lately; apparently a lot of people don't believe in evolution. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. If you do a little research you find lots of people publishing videos in which they "prove" that the earth is flat (with unbelievably stupid arguments and ridiculous "experiments"), claim that gravity does not exist (it is all electromagnetism), deny the existence of atoms, believe in geocentrism with the earth standing still, reject the idea that dinosaurs ever existed and so on.
...

And its getting worse in America, it seems, with religion replacing politicians in making laws for everyone to live under ... they don't even think they are doing the same thing as folks in a few other places in the world ... and the judges and Supreme Court in this country are not capable, or aware, that they are allowing a religious attitude to take over government ... something that their very constitution was hoping to avoid and make sure it did not happen!

And then, we have ... the others ... confusing issues so badly to make sure you do not know what is right or wrong ... a perfect ruse, for religion to step in many times in the history of humankind!
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