Not all conspiracy theories are threat related, such as USA faked the moon landing. That one is good clean fun and perhaps a money maker by selling books and videos.
Thanks for sharing this. Even friends and passers-by with loving hearts and brilliant minds are not immune to the appeal and draw of kooky conspiracy "theories". May the day come where the descriptor "theory" in "conspiracy theory" is replaced by the descriptor "notion". But, that would require a shift in the psyche of our species. "Theory" gives nonsensical notions an illusion of legitimacy.
I usually agree with you dunning but I can't believe that you bought into the belief that lightning is not a threat! You must be listening to the lies scientists and statisticians are feeding you.
He tries to make conspiracy theorist out to be like their no big deal. Listen to Alex Jones instead of this guy. He don't bother with such simple minded matters such as this or alien beliefs. He talks about real issues and actual facts concerning the elite eugenics's planed one world government. Just watch the documentary End Game here on Youtube. Can our intellect trump our animal instinct? What eugenics you mean? Yeah, gets free vaccines and give your kid autism. Go to skeptoid? Hmm...
These days almost all businesses are entirely about making money and they will buy whatever politician they need to buy to make more money. Consequences of this corruption ranges from widening the laws of acceptable gambling zones all the way to pushing a food or drug to market w/o testing it thoroughly. Investigate what the FDA did to Dr. Burzynski's cancer treatment research.
i liked the video and the host. i think his hair turns green when lightning strikes. im going to skeptoid right now and digging in on what he thinks regarding whether or not placing a red cup on the ledge at work makes the phone call process more burdensome. cheerio.
@bigbadklev Go live in your little slave world buddy.Yeah, everything alright.... Keep on thinking that and don't engage in any critical thinking. Its just find and dandy! Yeah they got us taken care of.
dude, you should do a skeptoid/InFact on the Paul is dead hoax. I've seen an entire series of videos trying to prove it, i'd like to see the other side of the arguement.
Conspiracy Theories can be helped along with high intellect though. Smart people are really good at making connection that may not even be there. Jesse Ventura, for example, has always struck me as highly intelligent but he seems to believe anything that is told him.
We need to instead learn HOW we should come about conclusions. It's something that schools do not do very well.
@supgiggabots What? GE mosquitoes? Oh that is real buddy! And GE salmon. Its been in the news. Go to the organic consumers website and friends of the earth. That's not even a theory. Its a fact!
So the animal instincts of a CT trump his intellect? They are not delusional but they also are not very smart. So the question is: How should we deal with them? Also: How to deal with those self-proclaimed skeptics who think they have to be überintelligent just because they don't believe in crazy conspiracies and feel the need to pick on the CTs to make themselves feel better?
@dulcetAirman Like the maker of this video, the "uber intelligent skeptic" who eloquently breaks CT's minds apart, throws the poor CT's a bone by saying "You might be right" yet never uses his superpowers to show skepticism towards the opposition. This guy's just a puppet for big companies.
@volleybrian I'm a big fan but there were in fact some attempts to stop other sources of energy from the oil industry. It's an interesting topic for the next skeptoid episode. If you want me to send info please let me know. Thanks for another great episode.
Atheist need to understand this. Having a religion doesn't make you stupid. I'm tired of people saying, "I can't vote for politician A because he's religious and that means he doesn't understand logic or undermines science."
@DeathOfAMudkip I agree with the first part. But NOT having a religion is a good indicator that the person in question is able to think rationally. That person could be evil, but that besides the point ;-)
@ZergAteu (1)I get where you're coming from cuz I used to think that way. But being religious, or being atheist, is larger an indicator of your immediate culture than your rational thought.
For instance I was a christian, and in my late teens got into the skeptic stuff and was able to change my whole world view based on the evidence.
While other people I knew were raised with no religion, and they're just fucking stupid. Believing your parents when they say "their is a god" make you
@DeathOfAMudkip Well, with the new atheist movment and the promotion of critical thinking on the internet + many examples I know, I tend to think the % of critical thinkers among atheists is larger than it used to be 5 or 10 years ago. Also, parents who teach their kid how to think (correctly) not what to think are teaching critical thinking, so the background is irrelevant.
I guess we are saying more or less the same thing, but we differ on the rational/irational atheist %
@ZergAteu (2) no more or less rational believing them when they say, "there is no god".
You're probably into the whole youtube atheist skeptic thing, so the atheist you surround yourself with are probably largely rational people.
Skeptics make atheists, atheists don't make skeptics. I know atheist who think the medical establishment wants you sick so they can sell medicine; and who drink "energy" drinks to help improve thoughts; all while calling christian beliefs stupid <;-)
@DeathOfAMudkip I never said all atheists are rational. But that atheists are more liekely to be than religious people. I didn't mix correlation with causation, just stated a fact. And yes, there are some crazy atheists out there. It is probably impossible to have a large demographics without it containing some Phelps or some Moore-s :-) .
Politics are an extension of ones worldview, and as the religious love bringing up, religion is fairly pervasive in ones worldview. So while it is entirely true that the politics are what matters, religion (and a few other factors) can be fairly decent heuristics.
actually, there is an evolutionary balance... Too little paranoia you get eaten by a large cat, too much and you don't emerge from your cave and starve to death.
YouTube Search ( 911 (Mossad) Secret Operatives helping things along..Translations please ! ) I sent this guy this video... after weeks expecting his reply... he told me he did not know what they were doing.. well what do you think..they were doing? I would love to hear from YOU.
Checked several posts in the website. Pretty interesting. It seems to offer counterarguments to theories which are against the status quo, remaining skeptical about (or not mentioning at all in some cases) questions that remain unanswered. The problem is it never makes any case against the status quo. Sounds kind of one-sided to me. Moving on.
@dangerouslytalented Checked it. If this is the type of story he decides to play the true skeptic for, then I find him even less interesting than before.
I find him funny sometimes though, like when he claimed a McD's burger is actually a balanced meal that's good for you and then pointed out deficiencies in the Organic Food industry with a magnifying glass.
@Cyrathil But to clarify, I just didn't fee like repeating myself in my response to "dangerouslytalented". When he brought up a poor example to support his claim, his approach was leaning towards a non-productive debate. Pointing out his example had nothing to do with "status quo" would inevitably led to a "Yes it is!" response, which I have no interesting in wasting time with.
@Cyrathil You almost did, except for the actual connection (from my post): "That's not the level of bias I was talking about." To be more specific, i'm referring to the overall picture, not just being skeptic against one side of an argument.
People who call themselves "Skeptics" are a dime a dozen. Dig deeper and you'll find an agenda, which is the case with the guy making this video.
@ZeerosFate Because everyone does indeed have their biases. That was sort of the point of the video (which is corroborated by most of what we know about humans empirically). You do, as well. The thing which matters more is the thought process, and their intent. His 'agenda' is trying to stop what he sees as "psuedoscience". If you disagree with the conclusion, that's fine, but do more than state the obvious, since you obviously care enough to say anything.
@Cyrathil Very honorable of you to admit the man's fallacy, I tip my hat. From what I understand so far, you're a fan of his and it had to be difficult. However, you should be aware that it's not as obvious to everyone as you might think.
Even now there are readers out there which are less smart than you are and worship him as a skeptic god.
And yes, being bias is normal, just like the act of hiding it. I call that dishonesty.
@dangerouslytalented But I do give him credit for the WTC 7 argument. It's the best I've heard and I find it more convincing than anything I've heard for that matter so far. Before then, the only other strong argument I heard about it came from the truther's side.
It's also possible that the superstitious ones were also more likely to be psychotic and/or antisocial (sociopathic, psychopathic) and beat the not so paranoid ones over the head with rocks. They did end up starting a religion based on bludgeoning people to death, didn't they?
While there hasn't been conspiracy the way the reptilian or Illuminati, there is a massive lobby by oil and coal companies to block subsidies and tax cuts for green energy while keeping their own subsidies and tax cuts which are massively larger than green energy and do not have be renewed. This is just business doing what is best for themselves.
@anubis2814 There are also real Zionists in the world, and they were largely responsible for the establishment of Israel, regardless of how deep their tentacles really go. There are also corrupt bankers who weasel every penny they can away from us and into their pockets. There are also pharmaceutical companies who stand to gain from the abolition of certain substances, and politicians who stand to gain from all of the above. It's more like a myriad of mini-conspiracies.
@anubis2814 THOSE conspiracies about oil companies trying to keep their advantages over solar and wind and other actual technology are real. But other conspiracies like the oil companies blocking some wierdass perpetual motion engine that Tesla invented, not so much.I think that is what he was referring to.
@anubis2814 agreed, but he's referring to the people who claim that free energy devices would be out there if not for the huge conspiracy by the oil companies keeping them down.
As for the JFK assassination, there are multiple conspiracy ideas there. 1: a conjectured conspiracy to kill JKF. 2: a conjectured conspiracy to have Jack Ruby kill Oswald. 3: a government conspiracy to cover up information on the assassination after the fact (sealing Warren Commission records, for example). 2 conjectured conspiracies, with the 3rd conspiracy idea a pretty well documented historical fact. The documented conspiracy likely fed interest in the conjectured conspiracies.
An idea being a conspiracy neither adds to nor subtracts from the likelihood of it being true. Bin Laden et al, orchastrating 9/11, is a conspiracy theory. The multiple knifemen idea in the killing of Julius Caesar, is a conspiracy theory. The notion that cigarette companies put cigarettes into army rations, in an attempt to addict soldiers, is a conspiracy theory. Those ideas stand or fall on the evidence, not on the fact that they are conspiracies.
While a degree of paranoia is almost certainly a survival trait, assuming every random noise is danger that should be run from, is not necessarily an evolutionary advantage. Running from your water hole or food supply every time you hear a rustle, means you very likely won't get as much food & water as your slightly less cautious cohorts. It also means you're burning up more calories running all the time. There are a large number of factors influencing what paths evolution takes.
So, how much did this one cost to produce? It's more like an ad for In Fact than an informational video. Even the panther bit is really hypothetical. It's a useful way to look at natural selection to an extent, but of course we can only infer this cautious behavior having been selected for by predation. You kinda make it sound like a fact.
It's a matter of game-theory. The cost of getting to safety when there is no threat is relatively low compared to the cost of ignoring the clues that a threat is at hand (predator or otherwise). Hence if you, for example, clap your hands near a tree with birds, they will react as if they were in danger. But, we have to be careful about inferring adaptation behind all traits. One might otherwise start conducting so-called evolutionary storytelling.
Well, yes, but I think what the point the previous poster was making is that this is one way that something like caution/paranoia could have evolved, but you are a long way away from showing that it was probably so. Just-so stories are good for illustrating how something MIGHT have evolved, not how something actually did. And I'm sure you are fully aware of this, but I just thought I'd clarify, because I'm pretty sure we're all on the same page.
Sure, okay. Brian could have been less matter-of-factly about his statement. Now that we're on the subject, I suspect that a good part of the reason conspiracy theories crop up is the desire for us to see purpose behind tragedies. It is unsettling to accept that an important person like JFK could just get shot by a random lunatic. It's more satisfying to believe that it was planned.
Glad to see this. It was one of my favorite episodes of Skeptoid.
Protestdog 1 week ago
are you on Ritalin?
klutch20 2 weeks ago in playlist More videos from volleybrian
Not all conspiracy theories are threat related, such as USA faked the moon landing. That one is good clean fun and perhaps a money maker by selling books and videos.
vmelkon 2 weeks ago
Good one , but I think panthers can climb trees
666hill0ck666 3 weeks ago
That's not really your own voice, Brian. It looks dubbed. I smell conspiracy.
12stringsforme 3 weeks ago
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Thanks for sharing this. Even friends and passers-by with loving hearts and brilliant minds are not immune to the appeal and draw of kooky conspiracy "theories". May the day come where the descriptor "theory" in "conspiracy theory" is replaced by the descriptor "notion". But, that would require a shift in the psyche of our species. "Theory" gives nonsensical notions an illusion of legitimacy.
thedeeliciousplum 3 weeks ago
Comment removed
thedeeliciousplum 3 weeks ago
I usually agree with you dunning but I can't believe that you bought into the belief that lightning is not a threat! You must be listening to the lies scientists and statisticians are feeding you.
ColemanMulkerin 4 weeks ago
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He tries to make conspiracy theorist out to be like their no big deal. Listen to Alex Jones instead of this guy. He don't bother with such simple minded matters such as this or alien beliefs. He talks about real issues and actual facts concerning the elite eugenics's planed one world government. Just watch the documentary End Game here on Youtube. Can our intellect trump our animal instinct? What eugenics you mean? Yeah, gets free vaccines and give your kid autism. Go to skeptoid? Hmm...
dudefromtheearth 1 month ago in playlist Uploaded videos
Comment removed
dudefromtheearth 1 month ago in playlist Uploaded videos
These days almost all businesses are entirely about making money and they will buy whatever politician they need to buy to make more money. Consequences of this corruption ranges from widening the laws of acceptable gambling zones all the way to pushing a food or drug to market w/o testing it thoroughly. Investigate what the FDA did to Dr. Burzynski's cancer treatment research.
joshuadc82 1 month ago in playlist Uploaded videos
i liked the video and the host. i think his hair turns green when lightning strikes. im going to skeptoid right now and digging in on what he thinks regarding whether or not placing a red cup on the ledge at work makes the phone call process more burdensome. cheerio.
bigbadklev 1 month ago
@bigbadklev Go live in your little slave world buddy.Yeah, everything alright.... Keep on thinking that and don't engage in any critical thinking. Its just find and dandy! Yeah they got us taken care of.
dudefromtheearth 1 month ago in playlist Uploaded videos
dude, you should do a skeptoid/InFact on the Paul is dead hoax. I've seen an entire series of videos trying to prove it, i'd like to see the other side of the arguement.
lman318 1 month ago
Conspiracy Theories can be helped along with high intellect though. Smart people are really good at making connection that may not even be there. Jesse Ventura, for example, has always struck me as highly intelligent but he seems to believe anything that is told him.
We need to instead learn HOW we should come about conclusions. It's something that schools do not do very well.
ColemanMulkerin 1 month ago
Have you guys seen the Bug Conspiracy Theory.
supgiggabots 1 month ago
@supgiggabots What? GE mosquitoes? Oh that is real buddy! And GE salmon. Its been in the news. Go to the organic consumers website and friends of the earth. That's not even a theory. Its a fact!
dudefromtheearth 1 month ago in playlist Uploaded videos
@dudefromtheearth :P It was actually a reference to something else, sorry.
supgiggabots 1 month ago
So the animal instincts of a CT trump his intellect? They are not delusional but they also are not very smart. So the question is: How should we deal with them? Also: How to deal with those self-proclaimed skeptics who think they have to be überintelligent just because they don't believe in crazy conspiracies and feel the need to pick on the CTs to make themselves feel better?
dulcetAirman 1 month ago
@dulcetAirman Like the maker of this video, the "uber intelligent skeptic" who eloquently breaks CT's minds apart, throws the poor CT's a bone by saying "You might be right" yet never uses his superpowers to show skepticism towards the opposition. This guy's just a puppet for big companies.
ZeerosFate 1 month ago
@volleybrain: Who's the guy that appears when you say „paranoia” @ 1:46 ?
ZergAteu 1 month ago
@ZergAteu Jesse Ventura, host of the TV show "Conspiracy Theory"
volleybrian 1 month ago
@volleybrian Thanks for the info. That guy is quite a character, as I see. And he was a Minnesota at some point. Wow!
ZergAteu 1 month ago
@volleybrian I'm a big fan but there were in fact some attempts to stop other sources of energy from the oil industry. It's an interesting topic for the next skeptoid episode. If you want me to send info please let me know. Thanks for another great episode.
leoncolombo 1 month ago
@volleybrian a man who is not afraid of anything
Just2BeWithHer 2 weeks ago
Atheist need to understand this. Having a religion doesn't make you stupid. I'm tired of people saying, "I can't vote for politician A because he's religious and that means he doesn't understand logic or undermines science."
No, it's their politics that matter.
DeathOfAMudkip 1 month ago
@DeathOfAMudkip I agree with the first part. But NOT having a religion is a good indicator that the person in question is able to think rationally. That person could be evil, but that besides the point ;-)
ZergAteu 1 month ago
@ZergAteu (1)I get where you're coming from cuz I used to think that way. But being religious, or being atheist, is larger an indicator of your immediate culture than your rational thought.
For instance I was a christian, and in my late teens got into the skeptic stuff and was able to change my whole world view based on the evidence.
While other people I knew were raised with no religion, and they're just fucking stupid. Believing your parents when they say "their is a god" make you
DeathOfAMudkip 1 month ago
@DeathOfAMudkip Well, with the new atheist movment and the promotion of critical thinking on the internet + many examples I know, I tend to think the % of critical thinkers among atheists is larger than it used to be 5 or 10 years ago. Also, parents who teach their kid how to think (correctly) not what to think are teaching critical thinking, so the background is irrelevant.
I guess we are saying more or less the same thing, but we differ on the rational/irational atheist %
ZergAteu 1 month ago
@ZergAteu (2) no more or less rational believing them when they say, "there is no god".
You're probably into the whole youtube atheist skeptic thing, so the atheist you surround yourself with are probably largely rational people.
Skeptics make atheists, atheists don't make skeptics. I know atheist who think the medical establishment wants you sick so they can sell medicine; and who drink "energy" drinks to help improve thoughts; all while calling christian beliefs stupid <;-)
DeathOfAMudkip 1 month ago
@DeathOfAMudkip I never said all atheists are rational. But that atheists are more liekely to be than religious people. I didn't mix correlation with causation, just stated a fact. And yes, there are some crazy atheists out there. It is probably impossible to have a large demographics without it containing some Phelps or some Moore-s :-) .
ZergAteu 1 month ago
@DeathOfAMudkip If they believe something insane (what's considered insane is perhaps subjective), you doubt the sanity of their other beliefs.
sciencemile 1 month ago
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@DeathOfAMudkip "No, it's their politics that matter."
Politics are an extension of ones worldview, and as the religious love bringing up, religion is fairly pervasive in ones worldview. So while it is entirely true that the politics are what matters, religion (and a few other factors) can be fairly decent heuristics.
Cyrathil 1 month ago
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YouTube 911GATE.
The #OccupyWallStreet Deception
watch?v=mCcqOKQR0BY
watch?v=tMNHDM-PCkc
American Autumn Was An Inside Job
watch?v=v7KKYIBAcFc
watch?v=_7F94Y4m1dUx
muskduh 1 month ago
world leaders want to be members of The Knights of Malta.. and rub shoulders with the likes of Rothschild.
redrik09 1 month ago
Awesome points....I agree completely.
kshackleton 1 month ago
actually, there is an evolutionary balance... Too little paranoia you get eaten by a large cat, too much and you don't emerge from your cave and starve to death.
dangerouslytalented 1 month ago 22
YouTube Search ( 911 (Mossad) Secret Operatives helping things along..Translations please ! ) I sent this guy this video... after weeks expecting his reply... he told me he did not know what they were doing.. well what do you think..they were doing? I would love to hear from YOU.
redrik09 1 month ago
Checked several posts in the website. Pretty interesting. It seems to offer counterarguments to theories which are against the status quo, remaining skeptical about (or not mentioning at all in some cases) questions that remain unanswered. The problem is it never makes any case against the status quo. Sounds kind of one-sided to me. Moving on.
ZeerosFate 1 month ago
@ZeerosFate Actually, sometimes it does.That's rare, though.
dangerouslytalented 1 month ago
@dangerouslytalented Please point me to at least one if you can.
ZeerosFate 1 month ago
Hey, of course it is one sided, biased towards FACTS.
dangerouslytalented 1 month ago 2
@dangerouslytalented That's not the level of bias I stated.
So, do you have the article name or not?
ZeerosFate 1 month ago
@ZeerosFate Take a look at the toxic lady episode. I thought it would be completely disproving that she even existed, but was very surprised.
dangerouslytalented 1 month ago
@dangerouslytalented Thanks. I'll check it out now.
ZeerosFate 1 month ago
@dangerouslytalented Checked it. If this is the type of story he decides to play the true skeptic for, then I find him even less interesting than before.
I find him funny sometimes though, like when he claimed a McD's burger is actually a balanced meal that's good for you and then pointed out deficiencies in the Organic Food industry with a magnifying glass.
ZeerosFate 1 month ago
@ZeerosFate "If this is the type of story he decides to play the true skeptic for"
'True skeptic' doesn't really mean much, but even if it did, I doubt it would mean 'against the status-quo'.
Cyrathil 1 month ago
@Cyrathil Couldn't have said it better myself.
ZeerosFate 1 month ago
@Cyrathil But to clarify, I just didn't fee like repeating myself in my response to "dangerouslytalented". When he brought up a poor example to support his claim, his approach was leaning towards a non-productive debate. Pointing out his example had nothing to do with "status quo" would inevitably led to a "Yes it is!" response, which I have no interesting in wasting time with.
ZeerosFate 1 month ago
@ZeerosFate I would like to clarify that I had read the entire exchange, so there was no missing context (unless I simply misunderstood something).
I was referring to two different posts, and specific sections within them, so maybe this'll help:
"The problem is it never makes any case against the status quo. Sounds kind of one-sided to me." (from your first post).
"If this is the type of story he decides to play the true skeptic for"
Am I incorrectly inferring a connection between these?
Cyrathil 1 month ago
@Cyrathil You almost did, except for the actual connection (from my post): "That's not the level of bias I was talking about." To be more specific, i'm referring to the overall picture, not just being skeptic against one side of an argument.
People who call themselves "Skeptics" are a dime a dozen. Dig deeper and you'll find an agenda, which is the case with the guy making this video.
ZeerosFate 1 month ago
@ZeerosFate Because everyone does indeed have their biases. That was sort of the point of the video (which is corroborated by most of what we know about humans empirically). You do, as well. The thing which matters more is the thought process, and their intent. His 'agenda' is trying to stop what he sees as "psuedoscience". If you disagree with the conclusion, that's fine, but do more than state the obvious, since you obviously care enough to say anything.
Cyrathil 1 month ago
@Cyrathil Very honorable of you to admit the man's fallacy, I tip my hat. From what I understand so far, you're a fan of his and it had to be difficult. However, you should be aware that it's not as obvious to everyone as you might think.
Even now there are readers out there which are less smart than you are and worship him as a skeptic god.
And yes, being bias is normal, just like the act of hiding it. I call that dishonesty.
ZeerosFate 1 month ago
@dangerouslytalented But I do give him credit for the WTC 7 argument. It's the best I've heard and I find it more convincing than anything I've heard for that matter so far. Before then, the only other strong argument I heard about it came from the truther's side.
ZeerosFate 1 month ago
WOW BRO THAT AMAZING VIDEO FOR THIS YOUTUBE ABOUT 9/11
history797 1 month ago
Now I feel so under-evolved. :D
AndyTehNerd 1 month ago
It's also possible that the superstitious ones were also more likely to be psychotic and/or antisocial (sociopathic, psychopathic) and beat the not so paranoid ones over the head with rocks. They did end up starting a religion based on bludgeoning people to death, didn't they?
sillygames 1 month ago
Nice green hair, Brian
BO3000B 1 month ago
@BO3000B It's a parallel universe version of Brian - the one that can grow a green beard.
Rarae192 1 month ago
Biggest reason wy people believe in conspiracy theoriesn
patternicity, or a tendency to find meaningful patterns in random noise;
agenticity, or the bent to believe the world is controlled by invisible intentional agent;
confirmation bias, or the seeking and finding of confirmatory evidence for what we already believe;
hindsight bias, or tailoring after-the-fact explanations to what we already know happened.
KevZen2000 1 month ago 2
While there hasn't been conspiracy the way the reptilian or Illuminati, there is a massive lobby by oil and coal companies to block subsidies and tax cuts for green energy while keeping their own subsidies and tax cuts which are massively larger than green energy and do not have be renewed. This is just business doing what is best for themselves.
anubis2814 1 month ago 7
@anubis2814 There are also real Zionists in the world, and they were largely responsible for the establishment of Israel, regardless of how deep their tentacles really go. There are also corrupt bankers who weasel every penny they can away from us and into their pockets. There are also pharmaceutical companies who stand to gain from the abolition of certain substances, and politicians who stand to gain from all of the above. It's more like a myriad of mini-conspiracies.
sillygames 1 month ago
@anubis2814 THOSE conspiracies about oil companies trying to keep their advantages over solar and wind and other actual technology are real. But other conspiracies like the oil companies blocking some wierdass perpetual motion engine that Tesla invented, not so much.I think that is what he was referring to.
dangerouslytalented 1 month ago 3
@anubis2814 agreed, but he's referring to the people who claim that free energy devices would be out there if not for the huge conspiracy by the oil companies keeping them down.
TheBetterGame 1 month ago
As for the JFK assassination, there are multiple conspiracy ideas there. 1: a conjectured conspiracy to kill JKF. 2: a conjectured conspiracy to have Jack Ruby kill Oswald. 3: a government conspiracy to cover up information on the assassination after the fact (sealing Warren Commission records, for example). 2 conjectured conspiracies, with the 3rd conspiracy idea a pretty well documented historical fact. The documented conspiracy likely fed interest in the conjectured conspiracies.
KarlJohanson42 1 month ago
An idea being a conspiracy neither adds to nor subtracts from the likelihood of it being true. Bin Laden et al, orchastrating 9/11, is a conspiracy theory. The multiple knifemen idea in the killing of Julius Caesar, is a conspiracy theory. The notion that cigarette companies put cigarettes into army rations, in an attempt to addict soldiers, is a conspiracy theory. Those ideas stand or fall on the evidence, not on the fact that they are conspiracies.
KarlJohanson42 1 month ago
While a degree of paranoia is almost certainly a survival trait, assuming every random noise is danger that should be run from, is not necessarily an evolutionary advantage. Running from your water hole or food supply every time you hear a rustle, means you very likely won't get as much food & water as your slightly less cautious cohorts. It also means you're burning up more calories running all the time. There are a large number of factors influencing what paths evolution takes.
KarlJohanson42 1 month ago
So, how much did this one cost to produce? It's more like an ad for In Fact than an informational video. Even the panther bit is really hypothetical. It's a useful way to look at natural selection to an extent, but of course we can only infer this cautious behavior having been selected for by predation. You kinda make it sound like a fact.
confiscator 1 month ago
@confiscator
It's a matter of game-theory. The cost of getting to safety when there is no threat is relatively low compared to the cost of ignoring the clues that a threat is at hand (predator or otherwise). Hence if you, for example, clap your hands near a tree with birds, they will react as if they were in danger. But, we have to be careful about inferring adaptation behind all traits. One might otherwise start conducting so-called evolutionary storytelling.
smaakjeks 1 month ago
@smaakjeks
Well, yes, but I think what the point the previous poster was making is that this is one way that something like caution/paranoia could have evolved, but you are a long way away from showing that it was probably so. Just-so stories are good for illustrating how something MIGHT have evolved, not how something actually did. And I'm sure you are fully aware of this, but I just thought I'd clarify, because I'm pretty sure we're all on the same page.
Geebsee 1 month ago
@Geebsee
Sure, okay. Brian could have been less matter-of-factly about his statement. Now that we're on the subject, I suspect that a good part of the reason conspiracy theories crop up is the desire for us to see purpose behind tragedies. It is unsettling to accept that an important person like JFK could just get shot by a random lunatic. It's more satisfying to believe that it was planned.
smaakjeks 1 month ago