Nigel: Interesting article on the way conspiracy theorists think

[Doktor Howl]

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0118093

excerpt:

Narratives grounded on conspiracy theories tend to reduce the complexity of reality and are able to contain the uncertainty they generate [18–20]. They are able to create a climate of disengagement from mainstream society and from officially recommended practices [21]—e.g. vaccinations, diet, etc. Despite the enthusiastic rhetoric about the collective intelligence [22, 23] the role of socio-technical system in enforcing informed debates and their effects on the public opinion still remain unclear. However, the World Economic Forum listed massive digital misinformation as one of the main risks for modern society [24].

A multitude of mechanisms animates the flow and acceptance of false rumors, which in turn create false beliefs that are rarely corrected once adopted by an individual [8, 10, 25, 26]. The process of acceptance of a claim (whether documented or not) may be altered by normative social influence or by the coherence with the system of beliefs if the individual [27, 28]. A large body of literature addresses the study of social dynamics on socio-technical systems from social contagion up to social reinforcement [12–15, 17, 29–41].

There's a hell of a lot more there, nuts & bolts stuff.  I've known for a long time that you can't talk a CTer out of their ideas, it's interesting to see why.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Oooh, this is a good one! I think I'm going to print it out.

This reminds me of something I saw... somewhere. Hank Green. I'll try to find it.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Here it is! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzxr9FeZf1g

[Doktor Howl]

Here it is! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzxr9FeZf1g

Will watch at home tonight after the gym.  I have the sound off on my work comp, because people keep coming into my office.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Here it is! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzxr9FeZf1g

Will watch at home tonight after the gym.  I have the sound off on my work comp, because people keep coming into my office.

I know what you mean, I'm at school and none of these terminals have speakers.