Okay, so in case people have not noticed, anti-science #activism is rearing its ugly head in the US.

The current #conspiratorial & political #myth-making class (GOP, rightwing ideologues, grifting influencers, etc...) has identified #science as an obstacle to its ambitions for dominance.

The main reason is that science plays an important social role in society, it disrupts the convenient stories we tell ourselves, and the narratives of the powerful who seek to #manipulate with fiction.

" Nobody becomes a #billionaire by accident. You have to have wanted that level of power, control & wealth more than you wanted anything else in your life. They all sacrifice family, relationships, stability, community, connection, and belonging in service of keeping score on a scale that actually yields no additional real-world benefits on the path from that first $100 million to the tens of billions.

This makes billionaires "a cohort that is, counterintutively, very easily manipulated." And they're all #manipulators
and hang out together, which means that when a #conspiratorial belief takes root in one billionaire's brain, it spreads to the rest of them like wildfire.

Then, billionaires "push each other further and further into extreme ideas because their entire careers have been predicated on the idea that they're genius outliers who can see things others can't, and that their wealth is a reward for that imagined merit."

2/2
https://www.anildash.com/2023/02/27/tycoon-martyrdom-charade/

Summary: Corey Doctorow
https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/15/in-the-dumps/#what-vacation

"The most problematic aspect of the current wave is how pervasive it is, how deeply conspiratorial it is, and how much it shuns expertise in every domain. That’s the most dangerous aspect of it."

Every damn time, like clockwork.

https://barbaragenova.substack.com/p/derek-beres

#pseudoscience #conspiratorial #conspirituality

On The Reception And Detection Of Pseudo-Profound Bullsh*t
--
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1930297500006999 <-- shared 2015 paper
--
[it would be interesting to see what the author of this 2015 paper thought about what ChatGPT, AI in general, etc is ‘bringing to the table’ in this regard]
--
“It is impossible for someone to lie unless he thinks he knows the truth. Producing bullsh*t requires no such conviction.” – Harry Frankfurt
--
#bullshit #bullshitdetection #dualprocesstheories #analyticthinking #supernaturalbeliefs #religiosity #conspiratorial ideation #alternativemedicine #homeopathy #claims #conspiracy
#bullshit #bullshitdetection #dualprocesstheories #analyticthinking #supernaturalbeliefs #religiosity #conspiratorialideation #alternativemedicine #homeopathy #claims #conspiracy #conspiracytheories #AI #chatgpt #aichatbot #artificialintelligence #artificialintelligencetechnology #misinformation #fraud #scams #scam #judgement #dunningkruger #skepticism

The secret ingredient in the #SiliconValley #Libertarian to #conspiratorial #fascist #pipeline is the #billions of dollars. https://circumstances.run/@davidgerard/110324178747344884

"Yet in fact he will not be elected — unless the U.S. economy is by then in a deep recession, or Joe #Biden, the presumptive #Democratic nominee, has a serious health problem.

Brace yourselves. We have been here before. It culminated on January 6, 2021. The angry, #xenophobic, #misogynistic, #racist, #antisemitic, #conspiratorial forces Trump unleashed then are still very much with us. And they are now more entrenched in Congress and state legislatures than they were then. By November 2024, they will be ready for a second attempted #coup." - @rbreich

https://open.substack.com/pub/robertreich/p/what-the-media-doesnt-get-about-trumps?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android

#Conspiratorial Networks That Created #Q Have Been Around For A Long Time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvFdOeFzRsY
Will Sommer, politics reporter for @dailybeast to discuss his recent book Trust The Plan: The Rise of #QAnon and the #Conspiracy That Unhinged #America. https://www.harpercollins.com

RT @PhilippMarkolin@twitter.com

Time for some #clips from our conversation with Prof. Eddie Holmes.

Eddie's scientific work has been extremely important to the #originofcovid search, but it also put him at odds with the more #conspiratorial crowd.

So we could not let it slide 😉
1/

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/PhilippMarkolin/status/1611350013703077889

@rbreich You'd think all the big #corporations would jump at raising the #minimumwage, so they can blame it for #inflation. I mean, sure, they have to look like they're against it, but behind the scenes, they'd do what they can to make it happen. Or am I being too #conspiratorial?

In an utterly bizarre and #conspiratorial interview with #Buzzfeed, Liz #Upton, #RaspberryPi’s #cofounder, describes the Friday's brouhaha as “I think what we’re looking at is a dogpile that’s being organized somewhere,” [..] “There’s obviously a Discord or a forum somewhere.” and "[...] I think there are people out there intent on perpetuating a culture war on #Mastodon. And I’m not sure their motives are necessarily benign.”

WTAF??? Read the full story at the link...

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/chrisstokelwalker/raspberry-pi-hired-ex-cop-mastodon-controversy

In an utterly bizarre and #conspiratorial interview with #Buzzfeed, Liz #Upton, #RaspberryPi’s #cofounder, describes Thursday's brouhaha as "I think what we’re looking at is a dogpile that’s being organized somewhere," [...] "There’s obviously a Discord or a forum somewhere." [...] "I think there are people out there intent on perpetuating a culture war on #Mastodon. And I’m not sure their motives are necessarily benign."

WTAF??? Read the full story at the link...

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/chrisstokelwalker/raspberry-pi-hired-ex-cop-mastodon-controversy

RT @PhilippMarkolin@twitter.com

If you are a scientist and not completely indifferent to evidence-based science, you better run far away from NimwegenLab, where a boys club of #conspiratorial cranks poisons the info sphere with #falsehoods & #smears for social media exposure, instead of doing any actual science https://twitter.com/NimwegenLab/status/1597613205903507456

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/PhilippMarkolin/status/1597738777094389761

My insight via an #altright friend is he really believes he's fighting for the right thing, can find reasonable justification and argument for every position, and is terrible with people. Highly rational, he sees things in black and white and absolutes. The grey, the fuzziness, uncertainty, the mess of human interaction, is not well understood. #Conspiratorial in thinking, it says a lot about his world view that all actions are seen through a #grifters mindset, as if all individuals exist only to enrich themselves at the expense of others. It can be a seductive way of thinking, as it offers a rubric through which to make sense of #chaos, but I know it doesn't make him happy or hopeful.

I've stepped away, given him some distance, as I can feel it pulling me down when I engage. Anyone who tells you they have a grand unifying theory for #humanity is probably selling you something! (often pillows, it turns out!)

When does #questioning the official story become #conspiratorial? I'd say, when questioning stops and making improbable/impossible things starts. Conspiracies happen? Skippy!!!They do! Everything isn't one yet we know we consume lies regularly. #posttruth Fine citizens are so poor these days. Can't afford questions, for fear the resulting #cognitivedissonance or labels result. When a clear false story is preferable to a messy incomplete truth. We become weak. #newspeak #history #think #logic

@MusiqueNow
PAUL MASON’S COVERT intelligence-linked plot to destroy #TheGrayzone exposed

https://thegrayzone.com/2022/06/07/paul-masons-covert-intelligence-grayzone/

Their above headline is too reserved. Try 'TROVE OF EMAILS reveals inept #legacyMedia, stumbling in the #conspiratorial dark to engage their own sordid #conspiracy - doing harm to the global community and #journalism.

Even #Bellingcat is exposed by the insider as "intel service input by proxy"!

The #EmpireOfLies had a long run, folks.

#amilKhan #ninaJankowicz #andyPrice #bBC