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Researchers believe they have identified the prime driver for a startling rise in the number of people who think the Earth is flat: Google’s video-sharing site, YouTube.
Their suspicion was raised when they attended the world’s largest gatherings of Flat Earthers at the movement’s annual conference in Rayleigh, North Carolina, in 2017, and then in Denver, Colorado, last year.
Interviews with 30 attendees revealed a pattern in the stories people told about how they came to be convinced that the Earth was not a large round rock spinning through space but a large flat disc doing much the same thing.
Of the 30, all but one said they had not considered the Earth to be flat two years ago but changed their minds after watching videos promoting conspiracy theories on YouTube. “The only person who didn’t say this was there with his daughter and his son-in-law and they had seen it on YouTube and told him about it,” said Asheley Landrum, who led the research at Texas Tech University.
[...] Some said they watched the videos only in order to debunk them but soon found themselves won over by the material.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Snotnose on Tuesday February 19 2019, @12:21AM (8 children)
It just makes the stupid people more obvious.
I've got a good friend, she's into essential oils, feng shui, vegetarian, yadda yadda yadda. Told her last October I was getting a flu shot, found out she doesn't do vaccines and her son never got one. Kicker was she told me 2 of her Scientific heroes, google says they're both cranks.
She's a wonderful person, a much better human being than I am. But damn, I don't understand how someone as smart as her can believe the crap she does.
Torpedoes are the only pedos Republicans are willing to fire.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @12:25AM (3 children)
Google gives you results that say what you want hear so you are more valuable to advertisers.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Tuesday February 19 2019, @01:05AM (1 child)
Google Bruce Lipton and/or Joe Dispenza and tell me what you think. Joe at least has half a leg to stand on, his claims can't be easily refuted although they're in the "give me an effin break" territory. Bruce? Yeah, total crank.
I'm really glad my friend doesn't read Soylent (Jo? You there?) She still talks to me, and may actually still like me. But damn, I know she's smart but how the hell?
Torpedoes are the only pedos Republicans are willing to fire.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @03:11AM
Okay, Bruce Lipton seems to be extending epigenetics a bit further than is reasonable, but Joe Dispenza is a chiropractor!!!!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @08:45PM
It is not neccesarily what you want to hear, but it's what makes you react the best from their perspective. They can play you like a machine. Emotions can be correlated to AND, NOT, OR etc. on a computer.
It works best on people who forget to question previous input and new input with "Why?". It is easy for most to do the "How?", but people tend to forget the Why. Our brains are associative machines. It's like a storage room with boxes of stuff (input) in them. When we need to react to something; we search the boxes, store the input and react with the content of the box. Our minds are simple machines and we're so unbelieably fucking dumb that we think we're smart.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Tuesday February 19 2019, @12:37AM (1 child)
Point her to Pubmed [nih.gov] and see if she finds anything there that she likes. At least that way you can both read anything she finds interesting.
Repeatedly training the selective denial of reality 'muscle' can probably help a lot when you need/want to close your eyes to evil in the world, at least just long enough to suppress more objective observational skills from getting in the way of reaching goals and living by principles that you think are worthy. Shadow her for a little and see if you can steal that part of her soul that makes her awesome; can't hurt, right? Maybe you could figure out how to convince her that some scientists (or heck, just general practitioners, or even Peace Corps workers) who believe in vaccines aren't so bad after all.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @12:48AM
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30632885 [nih.gov]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 19 2019, @02:52AM (1 child)
Just stop. You should have known right there that she falls for every alternative reality, nonsense fad that comes along. We have a small town about 10 miles from here that laps that kind of shit up. It's a great place to go for pottery, artwork and tie dye or to read my aura, but I wouldn't go there to inquire about medical advice or actual scientific studies on the efficacy of essential oils and feng shui. I'm sure it would be a measles hotspot too but we have a strict vaccination requirement for public school in my state and LGBTs aren't well known for their prolific breeding. Although, I do have a friend who lives there that claims direct knowledge of a number of turkey baster babies.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday February 19 2019, @03:19AM
Some essential oils have their uses. Clove oil is antimicrobial due to extremely high eugenol and methyleugenol content, for example, and similar compounds are responsible for the effects of oregano and rosemary oils. Taking them internally, though, is a bad idea in any but the most dilute doses, in which case you may as well simply heavily spice and herb your food. Most of them are just good for smelling nice, really :)
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...