• skillissuer@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    There are conspiracy theories on the Internet that Google and Facebook were created to centralize control of the Internet in a few large corporations, who then would be able to control what information people see

    that’s what capitalism can do, and they do that because it’s profitable for them. google seo pollution would run counter to that, right? somebody does that, because while clean access to public information provides no profit for them, putting their own noise there instead - from which they can profit in some way - makes them more money. wouldn’t The Powers That Be intervene if that was the grand strategy?

    i’m asking you to take a few steps back and look at a bigger picture. conspiracy theories are full of drivel, but their content is not the most important part. the most important thing about them is circlejerk forming property. if you wanted to investigate mysterious forces, then surely scientific method would be the best tool available, right? they aren’t using it not because it doesn’t work there, it’s because actually using scientific method involves taking frequent Ls and grants no points for your very own special ideas. if you cling to your own idea because it’s your own idea, and are proven wrong you can either: 1. take the L, see how much wrong you were and why, and adjust accordingly, or 2. happily ignore all contrary evidence and paint all your enemies as part of global conspiracy, or maybe repeat measurement, believing you got something wrong, until you get what you want.

    the most important thing about conspiracy theories is that it allows believer to feel Special, because they know something all the plebeian masses don’t and that makes them Enlightened, obviously better than anyone else and immune to all criticism. it’s highly corrosive to any critical thought and allows that pattern of thinking to spread from one issue to another. here you have this elaborated in detail by Folding Ideas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTfhYyTuT44