Talk About Tennis 2.0

In Latvia there is a new trend among antivaxxers of bringing in chemtrails conspiracy. You see government is poisoning us from the air and causing covid...

I wonder if all these ridiculous ideas and movements come from the fact that people no longer get proper science education. They don't develop a proper skeptical mind, they develop a "conspiracy driven" way of thinking. And they feel that, because they doubt everything without thinking it over, they are "smarter" than the rest.
It is truly a puzzling social phenomena.

I think to some extent this has always been there. Chemtrails conspiracy, for example, date back only to 1996, but other crazies existed before. There were riots against polio vaccination in 19th century London.

The Internet has just created a way to spread the conspiracy theories with more efficiency. The other day I saw video on SciManDan's YouTube channel - he takes the time to debunk flat earth and other pseudoscience conspiracy theories - where he talked about a YouTuber who thinks Koalas are CGI, and points to video of a koala with a zookeeper as evidence.

skatingfan wrote: ↑Sun Oct 31, 2021 1:51 pm- he takes the time to debunk flat earth and other pseudoscience conspiracy theories - where he talked about a YouTuber who thinks Koalas are CGI, and points to video of a koala with a zookeeper as evidence.

Is it really worth spending time debunking stuff like this? Besides at the outer edge it's difficult to tell who's the true believer and who's just trolling.

Suliso wrote: ↑Sun Oct 31, 2021 2:43 pm worth spending time debunking stuff like this? Besides at the outer edge it's difficult to tell who's the true believer and who's just trolling.

I'm not sure. Some of the videos are really good at breaking down & explaining the physics, and physics was always a weak spot for me so I appreciate the explanations.

Sure, I meant specifically the koala one

Wait koala's are CGI? That person must've been trolling. Does he think Australia doesn't exist?

ti-amie wrote: ↑Sun Oct 31, 2021 6:27 pm Wait koala's are CGI? That person must've been trolling. Does he think Australia doesn't exist?

'Australia isn't real' is a common conspiracy theory in the flat Earth community.

skatingfan wrote: ↑Sun Oct 31, 2021 10:38 pm

ti-amie wrote: ↑Sun Oct 31, 2021 6:27 pm Wait koala's are CGI? That person must've been trolling. Does he think Australia doesn't exist?

'Australia isn't real' is a common conspiracy theory in the flat Earth community.

I wonder: if you do not debunk the obviously absurd, how long will you have to wait to be in need to explain the obvious?

skatingfan wrote: ↑Sun Oct 31, 2021 1:51 pm The Internet has just created a way to spread the conspiracy theories with more efficiency.

And spread many other negative, harmful, and useless things.

“Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end... We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate. As if the main object were to talk fast and not to talk sensibly... We are eager to tunnel under the Atlantic and bring the old world some weeks nearer to the new; but perchance the first news that will leak through into the broad flapping American ear will be that Princess Adelaide has the whooping cough.
After all, the man whose horse trots a mile in a minute does not carry the most important messages...” - Henry Thoreau

The internet has made the transfer and spread of the good and the bad much easier, more convenient, and much faster than ever before. With that comes the very real potential for danger - as in conspiracy theories, terrorist recruitment, suicide instructions, child pornography, and many, many other unhealthy things.

Suliso wrote: ↑Sat Oct 30, 2021 10:38 am After about 14 months the company I work for has decided that masks at work are no longer required. They were already only partially required (not while sitting at your desk) since September. We'll see how it goes, our site is 85% fully vaccinated but outside it's significantly less and the numbers are going up again.

We're masks optional but from today, you have to be vaccinated to come to the office. of course, unlikely your teams, the vast majority of us can do our jobs from home.