I'm reasonably convinced that the flat earther explosion was at least encouraged by nefarious actors to see what dumb shit people will actually believe. I feel like the flat earth videos on YouTube are directly related to the recent rise of the extreme right, it primed so many of these people to reject reality so completely.

I was late to the Flat Earth thing, I assumed it started as satire for a couple of years after hearing about it, but didn't pay it any attention. I was disappointed to learn that it was not satire, and too many (more than zero) believed it was true.

On the upside, I suppose, I now am more aware of just how fucking stupid people can be, and that's good. Gotta keep your guard up when meeting new people, ya never know, ya know?

I still can't tell if most instances of them are a) genuine, b) trolling stupid people into believing dumb shit, c) trolling smart people into believing they believe something stupid and enjoying the frustration as they fail to convince them otherwise, or d) conning true believers like that guy who just wanted to fund his private rocket launch did.

Like it started with group B, but it's impossible to tell group A and C/D apart, if they are really dedicated to the bit. Like those youtubers who did various expreiments that would show which way it was, got results consistent with ball earth, then dismissed those results as something being wrong with their experiment could be strong denial but also just sounds like trolling and if I had to bet, I'd probably bet on it being a troll (or someone knowing their video will get way more hits like that because it's a hilarious result that did get a lot of round earthers to watch to mock it).

Tldr, I think we might all be getting played, though none as much as the poor fools that really do believe and donate to "flat earth science".

Well, that’s MAGA for ya.

Who's laughing now?

@tomiant@piefed.social who started selling t-shirts and slowly had to hire more employees as the demand steadily outgrew supply.

At the end they retired to their vineyard villa, now worth substantially more after the devaluation of half the planet. They appear to the public every now and then for million € speaking engagements, and mostly ignore their controversy section on Wikipedia.

This literally sums up Americas current situation

We are not evolved for being capable of seeing the thoughts, reactions and feelings of so many people, especially in the form of text written on a screen that your brain reads in its own voice. We have not adapted to nor even begun to study and understand how vulnerable our minds are to outside influence.

But it's okay because we're building giant artificial neural systems in data centers that take the power of small cities to run, with the express purpose of predicting and exploiting those vulnerabilities with superhuman effectiveness.

Same with Birds aren't Real, and it's going the way of this dumb shit.

smoke more weed, you'll laugh too