⚡Eineygður ☯ Flakkari⚡ on Nostr: > I find that a very fascinating human reflex. Why do we crave answers so much and so ...
> I find that a very fascinating human reflex. Why do we crave answers so much and so strongly, that even a wrong answer is preferable to no answer in many cases?
Indeed! In my experience that seems to be what drives a lot of the (for lack of a more neutral term) conspiracy theories. People are adrift on an ocean of uncertainty, which by and large is beyond anyone's capacity to actually unravel or elucidate in any objective way.
So they feel this primal need for some centre of stability to latch onto in order to feel secure. Thus even completely made up obvious nonsense can spread like wildfire if it gives people that sense of comfort in knowing, especially when they can console themselves in their delusions through the emotional support of forming a herd of fellow believers.
It's like this concept of "mass formation psychosis" (a la Mattias Desmet) that's become popularised in recent years. Hardly a new thing in spite of the novel terminology. It's been the bread and butter of religious superstitions since time immemorial, and a go to tactic for manipulating the masses by anyone in want of temporal or spiritual power over others.
What worries me from experience is seeing people thinking they've become "awake" to one type of psyop, only for the same underlying reasons, to latch onto yet another out of this unconscious emotional need. Over and over and over.
Indeed! In my experience that seems to be what drives a lot of the (for lack of a more neutral term) conspiracy theories. People are adrift on an ocean of uncertainty, which by and large is beyond anyone's capacity to actually unravel or elucidate in any objective way.
So they feel this primal need for some centre of stability to latch onto in order to feel secure. Thus even completely made up obvious nonsense can spread like wildfire if it gives people that sense of comfort in knowing, especially when they can console themselves in their delusions through the emotional support of forming a herd of fellow believers.
It's like this concept of "mass formation psychosis" (a la Mattias Desmet) that's become popularised in recent years. Hardly a new thing in spite of the novel terminology. It's been the bread and butter of religious superstitions since time immemorial, and a go to tactic for manipulating the masses by anyone in want of temporal or spiritual power over others.
What worries me from experience is seeing people thinking they've become "awake" to one type of psyop, only for the same underlying reasons, to latch onto yet another out of this unconscious emotional need. Over and over and over.