A modern disease of society
Lies, conspiracy, pseudoscience
I've just read an awesome poem written by Tiffany.
https://vocal.media/poets/a-scrumptious-lie
It's definitely worth reading. However, while I was reading it, many thoughts came to mind.
Warning: This article will be very different from Tiffany's. If you're expecting a continuation of her text or something similar in spirit, you may be disappointed.
"I'm allergic to lies," says the author. This statement suddenly gave me enlightenment. But let's proceed step by step.
We all hate lies, don't we? Yes, I don't believe there exists a single person in the world who likes to be fooled. We all hate lies. We despise liars, and we strive to seek the truth.
But... yes, why would someone start writing trivial things if there isn't a big "But"?
Yes, how do we know if someone is lying to us? It seems simple, right? If someone has promised something to us but didn't keep their promise, the lie is obvious. Or when someone sells us products of low quality, or less than the agreed quantity, and so on. There are many examples where we can relatively easily catch the lie.
However, in most cases, it is difficult to know whether we are being lied to or not. In politics, it often turns out that we don’t know the truth, or we are given only half the truth or part of the truth. Employers often mislead their employees, and trade unions frequently serve the interests of politicians rather than workers. Environmental movements, in many cases, willingly or unwittingly serve the interests of one company at the expense of another.
Many examples could be given for cases where the truth is difficult to find. In many instances, we learn the truth late, and sometimes never.
So, when it is difficult to achieve the truth, compensation mechanisms arise. People start to create their own reality in which to fit the conflicting data they receive. Thus, they create religions, conspiracy theories, and so on. This creation becomes their own life and starts to introduce new delusions into people's minds. But often, these delusions are more attractive and easier to swallow than the truth, so individuals prefer them to reality.
Along with this, many pseudo-scientific interpretations of even ordinary phenomena arise, like chem-trails, for example. Yes, science is difficult; often science lessons are boring, teachers are not good enough, or not motivated enough to clarify the difficult moments. Consequently, many people don’t understand science enough. On the other hand, pseudo-scientific fluff is served in an attractive package, easy to digest.
People have a preconception that everyone is lying to them and tend to choose alternative information over official sources. The problem is that, in many cases, they are not sufficiently familiar with the specific problem and choose alternative sources of information due to their inclination.
But why is even knowledge established for thousands of years, like the shape of the Earth, contested by some people, simply because this knowledge is supported by authorities?
I spent many years trying to understand what lies behind this tendency to lightly reject established truths. Now, reading Tiffany’s poem, a word suggested to me the reason and enlightened me.
'Allergic!'
Yes, most of us are allergic to lies.
We feel bad when we are lied to. Mild forms of allergies are helpful for individuals. The memories of bad experiences prevent us from actions and places which can trigger the allergy again. In this way, we try to keep away from lies.
In some cases, allergies can trigger an autoimmune reaction, which could potentially harm the organism. Similarly, the uncritical acceptance of pseudoscience and conspiracy theories by some individuals can be likened to an autoimmune reaction in society.
This analogy is similar to that between computer viruses and real viruses. Just as an autoimmune reaction is dangerous for the organism and could destroy it, the blind belief in conspiracies and pseudoscience is dangerous for society.
What are the right ways to deal with this societal ailment, however, is difficult for me to decide. Do you have any ideas?
The story was first published in Medium.
About the Creator
Bozhan Bozhkov
Hi, dear readers. I'm Bulgarian. I used to be a physicist, that's my education, but now I work as a network administrator. For many years, I have been writing a blog, and have also written several fairy tales and short stories, and a novel.
Keep reading
More stories from Bozhan Bozhkov and writers in FYI and other communities.
Titan and Challenger - two tragedies, the same root
During those days, while the war in Ukraine raged on, another tragedy captivated the collective consciousness, with hopes of a positive outcome. Unfortunately, those hopes were in vain. It was later revealed that in the days following the loss of communication with Titan, our hopes of rescuing the distressed submersible and its passengers alive were shattered. From the moment the signal was lost, everyone on board had already perished.
By Bozhan Bozhkov11 months ago in FYI
How long can humans live in a closed ecosystem?
1. FIND THE FIRST TERRARIUM The world's oldest enclosed terrarium by David Latimer, the Terrarium is a miniature self-sustaining ecosystem also known as a basin or landscape. It's usually a moisture-resistant plant that's planted inside a large closed glass vessel. In 1960, David Latimer, an electromagnetic engineer in Southeast England, washed a 38-litre glass bottle, which was used to store sulfuric acid, he poured the mixture into a jar, planted a few spider grasses in it, watered it and then closed the jar. Latimer put the jar under the stairs in the house where there was indirect sunlight from time to time, and he turned the jar to make the leaves grow evenly. Since then, this closed ecosystem has beenined and developed strongly without interference, the only time the vessel was opened in 1972. David just needs some water. So exactly how a terrarium works and why it can sustain itself for decades, you could say explosive or exaggerated, but in essence it's a terrarium that can be seen as a tiny Earth but without humans and animals, in fact it has all three important cycles of life: the water cycle, the oxygen cycle and the nutrition cycle. The water is absorbed by the roots of the plant and then released from the leaves, condensed in the wall of the vessel and flowing back into the soil, the plant photosynthesizes and releases oxygen, and then uses it to breathe and to release CO2, while the bacteria in the ground use Oxygen to break down the leaf and release CO2 to the plant for fotosynthesis. The boy is covered, and the Earth is isolated by a space vacuum with limited resources, only the sunlight is almost infinite and it's free, so now you can see how similar these two things are. Because all resources are recycled and preserved, so in theory, a perfectly optimized terrarium can sustain itself for a very long time. However, balancing conditions such as light, humidity, temperature, plant type, microorganism, and pot size is not easy. In fact, Mr. David Latimer's reservoir is one of the best closed ecosystems on the planet. On average, reservoirs only sustain themselves for a few months to a few years before being damaged due to a lack of necessary degradants and cycles that are not completed effectively, and if nothing changes, Mr David Latimers reserver can continue to grow for decades while its owners die of old age and poor health.
By Nguyen Duya day ago in FYI
The Whiskered War
A domestic drama; rather, you're witnessing a millennium-old conflict over the fate of the entire planet (and possibly just a smA titanic struggle between wits and strength has been raging in the shadows for millennia: The Great Nibble vs. The Purrsecution. The cats, the furry fighters, the fascists of the feline world, occupy one corner. In the other, mice make up the squeaky squad, the small militia. The reward? Domination over the entire world (and possibly an especially tasty cheese wheel).
By Richard Weber4 days ago in Humor
Comments (2)
I sometimes wish that we could restart the world. I wrote a piece recently about allowing Gen Z to form their own world and live the way they want, instead of having info crammed down their throats. The old ways are dead. We should let it R.I.P. and start over. Allergies are disgusting and we should eradicate them. The world is changing, people should too.
Hmmm, I have no idea at all on how to deal with this. But what you've discussed here is very thought provoking!