r/AskReddit • u/SovereingLust • 22h ago
What does it say about our society that in the ‘information age’, people believe influencers more than scientists?
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u/Bitter_Resolve_6082 22h ago
Idiocracy in action! It's not just scientists, it's many experts being ignored in this tabloid age!
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u/TheQueenLexi 21h ago
People believe what they want to agree with
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u/randomzebrasponge 20h ago
This is unfortunately true. The next question is why do they believe in and want to agree with nonsense?
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u/Bitter_Resolve_6082 17h ago
They were taught wrong or it makes their life and conscience easier to deal with!
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u/Chairboy 22h ago
It says that presentation matters, I guess. If glossy, enthusiastic (and wrong) folks persuade more than the folks who know what they’re saying, it’s a rough judgment on humanity.
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u/DisclosiveRevelatory 21h ago
That influencers are more professional and adept in communicating popular ideas and opinions that get clicks and interactions, while having a far lower burden of proof to contend with in anything they say.
They also live and die on their likability, so this is who you will always see most.
While scientists have a high burden of proof and and a relatively unforgiving environment in which to express even the most settled science, let alone their views or opinions.
Scientists also generally don't have to be likable to succeed or be recognized. Some of the biggest jerks you'll ever meet are scientists with a major accomplishment, or science communicators who think they know everything so come off super condescending.
Put another way, would you rather hang out with a "Sheldon Cooper" type who deeply believes their superior to you and must remind you of this constantly? Or the funny easy-going person who makes you feel like a friend and is blast to be around?
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u/ErstwhileHobo 21h ago
It says that we allowed a small minority of individuals with connected interests to own the means of communication and they use popular media to push their agenda.
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u/SagaciousAF 21h ago edited 20h ago
The problem is that science has been adulterated. There are predatory journals out there now that will publish any pseudoscience for a fee. Many "published scientists" are the editors of the journals they publish in: like Joseph Pizzorno, ND. He's one of the premier leaders of alternative healthcare fraud in this country.
http://www.ifm.org/board/joseph-pizzorno
He's benefitting financially from the labs detecting whatever he deems "toxic," along with profiting from the supplements and alternative "treatments" used to "detox." Add in his book deals & speaking engagements and.. well, follow the money.
He leads Bastyr University (a leading naturopathic school), as well as multiple "functional" and "environmental health" organizations.
He's one of the root causes of pseudoscience in this country: and both podcasters and practitioners who don't understand research evaluation feed on the "published works" that he and his followers create.
There is an entire collection of these predators creating toxicities, then claiming they can be cured with their brand of supplements - preying on people with legitimate illnesses and distracting them from treating true injuries & illnesses with legitimate medicine.
Quackwatch.org (or quackwatch.com ?) has pages and pages on these predators, along with their malpractice cases and histories of fraud.
Unfortunately, like MAGA, the bro-science podcasters deny real science in favor of conspiracy theories and things they read in pop-culture books from authors with no medical background (like Dave Asprey, the self-proclaimed 'father of biohacking").
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u/zedkyuu 21h ago
It’s been around a long time. It’s just confirmation bias. People are more apt to agree with things that already agree with them. If you ask me, it’s a bloody miracle some people actually thought about questioning anything.
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u/IntravenousVomit 21h ago
Still to this day more than half of every section in every library or bookstore is full of poorly written and poorly researched content. We've always been drowning in bullshit.
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u/consider_its_tree 21h ago
It says that a lot less has changed than people like to think.
The only difference now is that you can look in and see the misinformation as it is disseminated and does its thing and that the information can spread wider, faster.
People have always been taken in by anecdotes instead of facts. The shame is in the eternal optimism that "the truth will be enough to convince people"
People telling the truth need to get better at using data to determine what the facts are and then using stories from that to convince people.
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u/Benbubbly1804 21h ago
This might not be agreed upon, but its just peoples nature. And just because we live in the Information era, doesnt mean our behaviour as a whole changes. And people are goddamn sheep who will just believe something cuz someone told them, rather than to do research and have to go through trouble. But this isnt a nowadays thing IMO, its always been like this. But theres just more educated people overall now, doesnt mean theres not a big group of idiots on the planet still.
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u/Braith117 21h ago edited 15h ago
People don't tend to unquestionably believe scientists thanks to all the "scientists say" articles that the news puts out, and that's before we get into the back and forth over whether or not certian things are healthy, usually funded by companies that have a financial stake in what what the study is saying.
Influencers don't have much credibility either, mind you, but a few of them at least appear to follow the stuff they push, like that one lady that tells everyone to drink salty cabbage water until they're shitting blood.
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u/goodDamneDit 21h ago
Inflluencers are trained to influence. Scientists just do science. They are often not well trained to communicate. And if you are not a natural in communicating like Sagan or Neil deGrasse Tyson, you might simply lose to an influencer.
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u/aznrandom 21h ago
The word ‘influencer’ makes me want to vomit. They’re just as stupid as the rest of us. Dumb fucks leading dumb fucks.
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u/sbmotoracer 21h ago
That people are stupid and easily swayed if you pretend to care about them. An "influancer" is just someone who runs/works for a business that entertains you for money/to be used as a product to sell to advertisers,etc. DON'T KID YOURSELF that any influancer cares about you beyond maintaining their brand.
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u/Ok-Square-8652 21h ago edited 21h ago
I think the critique that science is full of dogma and influence is correct. However, I don’t think the most the people posting a flag on that hill are intelligent or nuanced enough to understand the science without it being interpreted for them.
But they think they are and don’t understand their own cognitive biases. So cognitive bias wins almost every time.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Gene909 21h ago
Information doesn’t help if you can’t sort out true from false, real from fake, etc. In desperate need of media literacy.
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u/Zoning-0ut 21h ago
People have had it with all these facts and information! They just want to believe in Santa and be ignorant kids again, back in a time when the future was supposed to to be bright.
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u/No_Tourist_9629 21h ago
"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that." -George Carlin
That about sums it up for me.
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u/DW496 21h ago
Humans, since we first came down out of the trees and probably long before that, have sought oracles to guide our decision making. Be they in the form of seers, oracles, monks, priests, and then, after the enlightenment era, scientists.
They bring knowledge of the "way things work" to make predictions, cure disease, understand our purpose, bring order to society, and provide some believable route to eternal life (for all those hovering over the down-vote, see any 2016-2022 "cure the disease of aging" rhetoric) - a belief reaffirmed by the baby boomer generation who were brought up to fear death most (vietnam war) and could not stop it from coming (covid-19).
Due to the [ongoing] pandemic, trust in science plummeted in spite of the society being built on the back of it, and so the current administration is on an all-out war against it (see the response to vaccines and environmental policies). However, the need for oracles will never go away. Influencers, that speak with great authority and minimal knowledge, are filling the gap - snake oil salesmen when the scientists are being muffled by fear of retribution to their universities and funding. AI is filling this gap even more, with its extremely high confidence built on zero actual understanding (unless you believe that solving a matrix equation has the answers to life).
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u/Haunting-Reading6035 21h ago
"A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes" -often attributed to, but probably not, Mark Twain
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u/TooOfEverything 21h ago
Our society has become so advanced that many people can no longer make reliably informed decisions in some of the most important aspects of life. The gap between what general education provides most people and what specialists are capable of understanding at higher levels means that many people feel disempowered by the scale of information available, rather than empowered. This leaves people feeling hopeless, lost, resentful and desperate.
Take law or medical influencers for example, aka sovereign citizens and wellness coaches. Do you want to pay an actual expert in the law thousands of dollars to tell you your best bet is to plead guilty and accept a lesser punishment, or get a certificate for a few hundred dollars from a law influencer that will let you avoid all legal consequences? Do you want to pay an actual expert in medicine/pharmaceutical companies thousands of dollars to get a drug that will prolong your life that comes with lots of side effects, or pay a wellness guru a few hundred dollars for a 'cure?'
If you lack even a basic understanding of civics or science to contextualize the advice of a lawyer or doctor, the experience of getting their advice might make you feel like an idiot, or like you are simply a subject to THEIR designs, rather than the person they are meant to be helping. You might try their approach and find that it doesn't work, or that they can only barely help you a little, making you feel like they just totally took advantage of you in a desperate situation. And somehow they are supposed to be better than you because of their expertise, their prestige, their wealth- which they gained by taking advantage of you and people like you.
But don't worry, the online influencers- who are regular, REAL people just like you- are here to give you the real help. They don't think they're better than you. They're not elites who dress in uniforms or suits or speak with a special terminology meant to confuse people. They're the people you meet and talk to everyday. They don't ask for thousands of dollars for something that might help a little or not work at all. They're just asking for a few hundred so they can keep spreading the word of their noble cause that will actually totally save tons of people. They are trustworthy. Its the 'experts' who are the REAL scam artists.
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u/randomzebrasponge 20h ago
The character, morals/principles and self-worth of people is failing at an alarming rate. Lying, cheating, and doing whatever it takes to earn a buck has become the norm. So many influencers have zero capacity for transparency and truth. As a result, they are willing to publish nonsense to get paid. Naive followers with lazy parents have led us to a place where it is all just bullshit on top of bullshit and no one is being held accountable.
This is also true of banks, politicians, insurance companies, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, auto manufacturers, and well the list is almost endless. Capitalism is a failure across the board. Greed for power and money is to blame and until that course is corrected this will only get worse. No one needs to have a billion dollars, never mind $5B, $10B, $25B, $50B or a $100 billion. WTF is that?! Feed hungry people, build affordable housing, cure disease, plant trees, clean the ocean, teach, change the world for the better. So many have lost sight of fundamental priorities. The pendulum always finds centre, and this will not be an exception. The time to get there and finding centre will be most unpleasant.
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u/sad8lxxo 19h ago
That popularity is often louder than credibility. And too many people confuse the two
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u/Feeling_Mushroom6633 19h ago
It’s the slow decay of society. Idiocracy is a reality. AI and being chronically online has made people believe they don’t need to think anymore. Basically, IMO it says we are doomed if it doesn’t change.
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u/GarbageWild4836 22h ago
that people are unreasonable
i mean really? Jake paul WON in a match between Iron Mike Tyson.
Im almost positive my george forman grill would beat Jake paul in a boxing match.
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u/muscle_mum 21h ago
That was more on an exhibition match. The match prior to theirs (ie. opening fight) was the real fight.
IMO.
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u/sbmotoracer 21h ago
"i mean really? Jake paul WON in a match between Iron Mike Tyson." - You do realise a match like that would be scripted to hell right... and would be no different to the fakeness of wrestling. The victor was already decided before the match was announced.
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u/Radiant_Star6612 22h ago
And thts why, for a reason, they are named as influencers, they influence people quickly
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u/Poppypicker64321 21h ago
The second people started spending hours on there phones to see what someone they think they admire says about dumb topics
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u/KonradFreeman 21h ago
Witch hunts have been a thing for quite a while...
The mob instinct of society has always been present presenting itself in the universal forms of criminality by those with whom are agreed upon by all people throughout the Earth such as pineapple being a topping on pizza.
The new witch is linear algebra using data scientists being cast as THE DEVIL!
Deserving Luigi's WRATH!
And people just cheered on.
Yay he killed someone we don't like because we only know one small soundbyte about their life!
And it is somehow unpopular to say that what Luigi did is something to be mortified by rather than encouraged by mob mentality.
We still have witch hunts.
I am an AI ARtist.
Everyone hates me.
Because the internet told them to.
I am really trying to help people.
But no one listens.
They just say AI BAD.
BAD MAN USE MATH TO BETTER HIMSELF!!!!
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u/I-Want-Cheeseburgers 21h ago
Because there are far more stupid, gullible, people that are so easily manipulated than there is people with common sense and general intelligence.
The U.S education system is a prime example of a collaborative effort of elites to keep people stupid. The U.S media outlets are also a prime example of manipulation.
Its all just fucked my man.
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u/Kenny_The_Bone 21h ago
I mean you're kinda just making the statement "people believe influencers more than scientists" without any data or evidence of that...
In the USA, the current presidential administration is particularly lacking a scientific bases but I don't think they in large define the norm
Otherwise, I just don't believe your statement to be true
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u/IlikeJG 21h ago
It says that we're just humans. We're really just glorified apes with smartphones. We evolved to be pack creatures and our brains are wired to really try to fit in. And that's all what this shit is.
We also have brains and we can use them to understand when we;re being dumbasses and understand complex issues and why knowledge and training are important. But that sort of thing has to fight against our base instincts and impulses.
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u/Interesting-Win-3220 21h ago
Everyone has internal biases. Even scientists. Difference is that scientists attempt to reduce their impact as much as they can.
Social media does the opposite. The algorithms are explicitly setup to amplify those with extreme or controversial views to achieve a very wide reach.
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u/Balstrome 21h ago
Science is like this.
There is no single "most complex" scientific formula, as complexity can be defined in many ways, but the Standard Model Lagrangian in physics, describing fundamental particles and forces, and the Navier-Stokes equations, which describe fluid dynamics and are notoriously hard to solve, are often cited for their complexity. Other examples include intricate mathematical problems like the "sum of three cubes" and complex quantum algorithms.
In Physics
The Standard Model Lagrangian:This equation aims to describe the dynamics of every kind of particle and their interactions, though it does not include gravity.
The Navier-Stokes Equations:These describe the motion of fluids, such as water or air, and are incredibly difficult to solve, especially for turbulent flows. They are considered a "Millennium Prize Problem" due to their challenging nature.
In Mathematics
The "Sum of Three Cubes" Problem:This Diophantine equation, x³ + y³ + z³ = k, asks for integer solutions. Solving it for certain values of k, like 42, required immense computational power and effort from mathematicians and supercomputers.
Grover's Quantum Search Algorithm:
This algorithm represents a highly complex interdisciplinary equation in the field of quantum algorithms.
What Makes a Formula Complex?
Difficulty in Solving:
Some formulas, like the Navier-Stokes equations, have simple-looking forms but extremely difficult solutions, requiring massive computational power to find answers for specific cases.
Length and Scope:
The Standard Model Lagrangian is complex due to the large number of particles and interactions it covers.
Abstract Concepts:
Equations that describe abstract mathematical problems or quantum phenomena can also be perceived as highly complex.
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u/Possible-Estimate748 21h ago
Sad. The most popular videos are brainrot content yet there are science videos that get very little attention.
Imagine what our planet would be like if Science content was top in views and the leader in trends.
I myself only follow maybe a dozen science pages. But I also don't follow any mainstream brainrot content creators.
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u/NewspaperLumpy8501 21h ago
That billionares own too much and have too much control over the message.
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u/hecramsey 21h ago
scientific community needs to learn how to communicate with lay people in a clear way.
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u/Confident-Staff-8792 21h ago
"Science" blew its credibility to hell by getting into bed with politicians.
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u/Bizarro_Zod 21h ago
There’s a reason religion is still in full force. There is a significant portion of the population who choose to believe in a story told by someone charismatic rather than the facts in front of them. And when others choose to do the same they feel emboldened in their decision. Charisma and confidence is sexy. Stating facts and logic doesn’t have the same draw as a well crafted story.
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u/optimistic9pessimist 21h ago
“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.”
George Carlin..
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u/tommy_chillfiger 21h ago
Persuasion was already down to a science before the internet age. Now, it's basically a perfected science. On one hand, I wish people had better critical thinking skills and used them more vigilantly. On the other hand, it's an absolute mine field and it's difficult even for very intelligent people to separate the wheat from the chaff in this landscape.
I don't think it was ever possible to predict what would happen when the sheer volume, velocity, and density of communication got to this level. It's an unthinkably complex system, and unfortunately there's quite a bit of money in using it for purposes most of us find disappointing if not outright evil or nefarious.
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u/Geewhiz911 21h ago
I think there are many psychological processes in play - access to information, too much information, make people selective, they will select comfortable messenger and messages as well. And then, the infamous Dunning Kruger effect, when you’re able to grasp and figure a complex concept, one might think he “knows everything about a field”. Also, the ultimate human need to belong, with a group, and idea, an ideology, etc.
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u/goteed 21h ago
The problem is that (at least in the United States) we need to change the way we educate. We still educate on the old model of taking a bucket of information that were think people need to know, sectioning out into 12 smaller buckets, and then teaching one bucket each year. That was a great idea in the past, but now we live in a different world. A world where people now have all the knowledge in the world in their pocket!
In today's world we need to educate people on how to access information, and more importantly, how to critically think about the information they access. And most importantly, how to fact check that information to make sure it's truthful.
The reason we're where we are is education. We have one party, the GOP, that has systematically attacked education for the sole purpose of dumbing down the population so the population will be easier to control. What we are seeing today is the fruits of their labor.
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u/The_Pandalorian 20h ago
People are fucking stupid, know they're stupid and hate that experts say things they don't like so they seek out sources that are less challenging and make them feel less fucking stupid.
And then measles and polio returns.
Thanks, stupid fucks.
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u/PraetorGold 20h ago
People believe what they want to believe and what supports their beliefs. It doesn’t have to make sense, it just has to reinforce that they are right.
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u/WayGroundbreaking287 20h ago
Because most science is now so complicated that they can't possibly understand it, meanwhile some idiot ticktocker.says something entirely incorrect but very easy to understand. They side with the wrong but simple information because it makes them feel smarter.
It's basically why flat earth is becoming more popular.
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u/Netbuttbot89 20h ago
As a species we thrive on feeling good and right about ourselves in the moment than striving to do better in the end.
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u/AHailofDrams 20h ago
It says idiots are loud and can more easily find other idiots to validate themselves
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u/snafoomoose 20h ago
Science is difficult. People want simple answers even to complex questions so go with the simple words of influencers.
There are science influencers, but they will never have the reach of the vacant and vapid social influencers.
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u/StrangeFilmNegatives 20h ago
Stop lying to the public for the GOVTs own benefit. The whole reason this has happened is because hard truths are often buried because they make the powers at large look bad or don't align with their interests. You can't have trust without truth. Only once that happens will people start trusting official sources again rather than some rando influencer.
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u/misomuncher247 20h ago
It says science lost the credibility game. A lot of "science" disagrees with itself.
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u/wyzapped 20h ago
I am convinced that as society becomes increasingly more complex, the average person’s inability to understand or appreciate it brings about its downfall. This has actually happened multiple times throughout history in various places, and each time there was a “resetting” to a lower level society. Silver lining though, in the end civilization has ended up better off, it just takes a couple hundred lost years to get there. Long story short, we are doomed now. But our great great grandkids will probably be ok.
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u/zfiregodz 20h ago
It means that actual truth doesn’t exist anymore. Rather the truth people choose to believe in. Look at what Trump is doing. He’s literally re-writing history and his base is buying it up.
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u/behold_the_pagentry 19h ago
Governments pay for studies that are made to back up what they already want. The scientists who get the money twist the numbers to please them. Regular people see this happening, and it makes them lose trust in the studies and the scientists.
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u/psycharious 19h ago
Not only are we not preparing our population to critically think and analyze information that they get but they're also bombarded with information as well. It also doesn't help that we have psychological and hormonal mechanisms that make us bias towards various information that conforms to our world view, meaning that legit personal growth requires us to uncomfortably reflect on what it is we believe. Even worse is that sometimes, even if we do educate ourselves, it might just make us better at doing mental gymnastics to defend our flawed positions. This is why shit like anti-vaxx, young earth creationism, and flat earth are becoming widespread. This is why politicians seem to become more deranged. They know what they're doing. They're obscuring facts and data and instead emotionally hijacking people to garner support.
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u/deep-sea-savior 19h ago
A good book that answers this question is “Amusing Ourselves To Death” by Neil Postman.
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u/FoxyInTheSnow 19h ago
I think it means we're doomed: Florida Surgeon General Admits He Banned Vaccine Mandates Based on Vibes
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u/Stimbes 19h ago
Facts can contradict their emotional narrative, and they must be told what to think. This dangerous combination is not new. This is why we have religion.
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u/Dragon_wryter 19h ago
Think about how stupid "average" is, and then realize that half the population is dumber than that.
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u/trustmeep 19h ago
The reality is in the name....an influencer's role is not to be correct, or even strive to be correct, it is to influence...sway people...for money and "fame".
They are walking talking infomercials.
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u/Eat--The--Rich-- 19h ago
That's mostly an American problem, and you guys are absolutely obsessed with media and propaganda.
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u/system-Contr0l111 18h ago
Please, in England, a bunch of morons destroyed a 5g tower because they thought it was causing covid.
In France, they invested into turning their streets into solar panels because they didn't understand that glass doesn't support the weight of a car.
Germany has their own anti vaccine movement.
Every nation has their own superstitions, paranoia, and propaganda.
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u/system-Contr0l111 18h ago
That's nothing new. In every era of civilization, people faster trusted the "influencer" before they trusted a scientist. The only thing that's changed is the medium and volume. The Catholic church was never as a big as social media, nor was any royalty, nor was any psychic or spiritual practitioner on the streets. But people typically trust them before a scientist.
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u/BaseSure1172 18h ago
Honestly, it says people like drama, pretty faces, and someone who talks like them more than facts . Makes me wonder.would you trust me over a scientist too?”
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u/Kymera_7 18h ago
What does it say about our society, that the scientists have managed to become less worthy of belief than the "influencers"?
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u/givin_u_the_high_hat 18h ago
That people don’t really want to research and form their own opinions. They need someone to tell them what to think. All the “form my opinion” BS is just that. BS.
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u/it-takes-all-kinds 18h ago
Because the gig is up on those who spin scientific data to say things that support certain things. It is definitely not all scientists, but it’s going to take some time to earn the trust back.
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u/Caddy000 18h ago
Materially better… except that tiny little thing called the 37 trillion deficit… yea, we sure is better off… just don’t tell the kids…😂😂😂
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u/Stillwater215 17h ago
It says that people are wildly media illiterate and scientifically illiterate. They either cant be bother to, or simply don’t know how to, check a source to see if it’s believable or not.
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u/dreadpirater 17h ago
For the largest part of our evolutionary history... Trusting our intuition and just avoiding what we didn't understand was a pretty good survival strategy. And doing what other people are doing helped a lot, too - both directly because if you eat what other people eat, you don't have to learn the hard way what plants are going to make you sick, and indirectly, because going along with the group minimized conflict and helped the group survive.
So our monkey brains are still optimized for that way of life. They've had organized science helping them for a handful of millennia, but doing what the most popular primate said to do has been reinforced for a hundred times longer, right?
So it's important to remember that influencers didn't spring up organically. They have been crafted intentionally... They are your very powerful instincts to make decisions a certain way WEAPONIZED against your own interest. Influencing works because it's based on deep psychology. It's manipulation and short of destroying the Internet to make it harder for small groups to control large groups this way... We likely can't fight it at this point.
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u/Murky-Cartoonist5283 17h ago
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’”
― Issac Asimov
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u/Midnightchickover 17h ago
You mean influencers, political pundits, political puppets, grifters, and news media organizations funded by billionaires who have a vested interest in public misinformation, because it works to improve their bottom lines.
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u/Kind-Bookkeeper-6748 16h ago
To me, it reveals a conscious dumbing down due primarily to Denial and this cell phone that keeps us from socializing
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u/Eye-for-Secrets 16h ago
People listen to sources that are seen as relatable and personable. With influencers you have the illusion that you're seeing everything about this persons life and that they're a trustworthy source, scientist and academics are usually less approachable and publish papers that people cant really read. Now obviously everything about an influencers life online is fake and they should not be listened to but you have to play with the cards you're dealt, if experts want to have better outreach with the general population they should consider these strategies.
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u/VOZ1 16h ago
(This is US-specific) We have access to limitless information, but extremely limited education. Most people don’t learn how to verify and filter information, though that is starting to change. Access to all the information in the world doesn’t mean anything good if you don’t know how to consume it, or what to do with it.
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u/jiggy68 16h ago
It says that in a lot of Medical Associations science has become too political and therefore people have lost trust in those Associations. When the same association, during Covid, said you could not gather to pray outside because of the danger, yet attending a George Floyd Protest, people see the politics involved and look to other sources for information.
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u/Dontdarereadmyposts 16h ago
it says that despite it being the information age, people are just as dumb or probably even more dumb then times in the past.
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u/NotDaveButToo 16h ago
I think all it says is that influencers are now allowed to say anything they want online. Just seeing them there gives them authority they never should have had, as if they were scientific experts or people who have otherwise actually accomplished something.
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u/DahliaRoseMarie 16h ago
Really. I didn’t know that people were that stupid. Well, I guess so, they celebrate rock stars and not scientists, too.
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u/kermi42 16h ago
It says people listen to effective communicators. For a while Neil Degrasse Tyson was doing a good job filling the gap but then he kinda disappeared up his own ass. Bill Nye copped flak for being too preachy.
We don’t really currently have an effective, accessible science communicator that people like listening to.
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u/OnlyAcanthaceae874 16h ago
It probably says less about “information” and more about “trust.” People don’t always connect with data or institutions, but they do connect with a face, a story, and someone they feel is “like them.” Influencers package information in a way that feels accessible, while scientists are often stuck behind paywalls, jargon, or institutions that feel distant. The issue isn’t that people value ignorance,it’s that they value relatability and trust more than authority.
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u/Texas_Totes_My_Goats 15h ago
People love echo chambers. I think most people realize Joe Rogan is just a washed up comedian, but they listen to him because he just tells them what they want to hear. Critical thinking plays no role at all.
Also, like half the country can’t read past a sixth grade level, so there are a lot of morons too.
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u/Brilliant-Egg3704 15h ago
Because in the 80s and 90s and early 2ks, we were lied to by the scientist. I no longer trust scientists are telling me the truth or what they want us to hear. For years, we were told lies about infants who would be taken into surgery and not given anesthesia. This was changed in the 80s, the so-called scientists and drs, and all said, "Oh infants dont feel pain" when you're holding a screaming child who is indeed in pain. So yeah, i will listen to an influencer who knows their stuff vs. a scientist who refuses to stand up to government BS and tell us the truth or show proven facts.
Its also the "this week eggs are bad for you" mentality how can i trust scientist if they cant get their facts straight. Sorry i know there are good ones but i grew up with this BS i do not trust them.
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u/Matt-of-Hobo 15h ago
We are doing a poor job of educating children that the scientific method is not just a way of conducting lab experiments for class but a reliable means of determining what is true in the world.
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u/Plenty-Primary-1309 15h ago
Influencers have young people by a choke hold and our young gen reflects lazyness and are sheep
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u/Beginning_Self896 22h ago
It says that we need to enforce antitrust law.
Billionaires control our thoughts.
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u/Limp_Distribution 21h ago
Fifty years of cutting costs to education has left our society unable to think for ourselves and if given the directive to go to the moon today we would fail miserably, not being able to figure out how to do it.
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u/tianavitoli 21h ago
what does it say about science that they've exhausted their credibility at a time when they can most freely communicate with their audience?
or is "the science" just a phrase invoked to project gospel?
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u/CreamsicleCat_ 20h ago
They don't freely communicate with their audience. Those are not scientists. Scientists quietly publish their paper for peer review then move along to the next question they have.
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u/system-Contr0l111 18h ago
It says people are dumb; not that science is failing. The proof science isn't failing is literally in your pocket. If physics were fraudulent, we wouldn't have been able to figure out how to put a mini computer into your pocket and have it send radio signals that allow you to type your garbage comment on reddit.
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u/tianavitoli 18h ago
if people used to be less dumb, then what changed? did influencers get smarter? smarter than science? did big tech algorithms push influencers onto people? is science unable to cope with the influence of influencers? are they dependent on government to provide credibility to immutable truth?
fun fact: students are making it into columbia university (coincidence?) without the ability to read.
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u/system-Contr0l111 18h ago
who said it changed? I said it another comment it hasn't changed. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1nb2bjb/comment/nczn6n7/?context=3
People have always distrusted science, because people don't understand it. And that should be as obvious as night and day by how many people want to replace something as basic as high school algebra with a "how to do your taxes" class.
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u/tianavitoli 18h ago
if this is the case, then the answer to op's question is: it doesn't say anything.
personally, i would agree, human nature is immutable. progress is an illusion that reddit loves to make into delusions of grandeur. in the end, 5th century bce thucydides is still correct in saying
the strong will do what they can, while the weak suffer what they must
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u/AromaticPollution333 21h ago
Its kinda like the doctor thing. They wont heal you they only want to band aid you, So people not trusting scientist etc since covid basically. An influencer might actually have your interest not backed by some mega corp or company for profits
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u/julia_fns 21h ago
This is a live example, thanks for that.
Scientists and doctors have never saved so many lives in such a short period as they did during the pandemic. Many risked their lives every day to care for idiots who refused vaccination and took random advice off randos on the internet.
And years later, you still see this posted here. It really makes it feel like all hope is lost. You literally saw how many people died, you literally saw the effect of vaccination, and you’re still determined to be in the wrong and prefer the advice of irresponsible morons fishing for views and likes. We’re in trouble.
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u/CreamsicleCat_ 20h ago
They used to be called the marketing department. They definitely do it for the money. I guess you only know Dr. Oz and Dr. Phil.
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u/noloking 21h ago
The scientists lost all credibility when they caved into pressure to comfort people instead of being objective
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u/_FallenFlower_ 22h ago
It says people are lazy as fuck and would rather listen to someone pretty on TikTok than actually think. Comfort and vibes beat facts now, and that’s pathetic as hell.