Human evolution might be to blame for the spreading of conspiracy theories

Research suggests that conspiracy theories might actually improve the reputations of people who spread them.

Spreading conspiracy claims and thinking positively of those who spread them might be part of human evolution.

It might call to mind images of gullible, tin-hat sporting social outcasts. However, many other people, including “politicians, online influencers and anti-vaccination proponents,” have deployed conspiracy theories frequently and with great effect on their audiences. Examples like these suggest that individuals can actually benefit from spreading these outlandish claims. This could, of course, demonstrate a direct connection to why they would choose to spread them at all.

Being ever suspicious of members of other groups and vigilant of possible threats from these could be beneficial to a group’s survival. It makes them more responsive to real threats and less likely to be surprised by an enemy. Of course, it would also increase the dangers of false positives: of spotting a threat where there isn’t one. However, overactive vigilance would be much less problematic to the group’s survival than a tendency to miss warning signs. Conspiracy theories would provide this vigilance, enhance threat perception, and encourage responsive behaviors. They would contribute to the survival of societies in conflict situations at the expense of other groups that are less suspicious.

In social contexts, conspiracy theorists would be analogous to members of the group who take it upon themselves to sound the alarm. Far from being stigmatized for this, in their capacity as the group’s defenders they could benefit from an increase in esteem and reputation from their fellows. They might even be perceived as strong leaders.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blo...y-theories

This is not altogether different from the social utility of lying. Despite the overall better benefit profile for truth-telling, the benefit profile for lying insures that it will not simply evolve out of our behavior. Likewise with other behaviors for which defection yields positive outcomes in a substantial portion of instances, despite overall performing worse.

Jimmy Dore, Roseanne Barr, Dr. Drew Pinsky, and Sam Tripoli all share their conspiracy theories about "the Ukraine", including Clinton, Pelosi, and Biden's families, biolabs, child trafficking, heroin, and food and farmland.

Today the New York Times has ~4,000 words from Curtis Yarvin. 🤮

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/18/magaz...rview.html

A "UFO whistleblower" on Newsnation claims there is an alien "egg" craft.





But it's just a blimp.



Ufologists lie again.

(January 21, 2025 at 4:50 pm)Fake Messiah Wrote:

This is how those "who are only asking questions" look like in eyes of sane people.

JAQing off, my favorite.

What is the Super Bowl logo conspiracy theory? What to know about this year's colors

The Super Bowl logo conspiracy theory proposes that the colors in the logo predict which teams will play against each other in the championship NFL playoff game. This year those teams will be two of the following: the Buffalo Bills, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Washington Commanders and the Kansas City team.

The conspiracy became popular when fans noticed colors of the Super Bowl logos in past years seemed to match the colors of the teams that made it to the big game.

For Super Bowl LVI in 2022 the logo featured red, orange and yellow tones. The two teams that faced off against each other were the Los Angeles Rams, known for their blue and yellow hues, and the orange and black Cincinnati Bengals.

Now the theory is back in full swing as the colors in this year's Super Bowl logo seems to match some of the remaining playoff teams.

The Chiefs' red and the Eagles' green are colors that make up this year's Super Bowl logo. Hmmm.

Fans are looking forward to this weekend in determining whether this theory is a certified way to predict Super Bowl matchups or just another failed conspiracy theory.

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/sto...851342007/

Marco Rubio will appear in an upcoming UFO documentary full of dubious paranormal activists who claim encounters with aliens, ghosts, demons and werewolves.

Quote:An upcoming documentary about the UFO/UAP phenomenon promises to be the most well-sourced and credible film every made about the buzzy topic and its first trailer has just been released (below).

The Age of the Disclosure, by filmmaker Dan Farah, features on-record interviews with 34 current and former senior members of the U.S. government, military and intelligence community with direct knowledge of unidentified aerial phenomena. The film contends there has been an 80-year cover-up of the existence of non-human intelligent life and a secret war among major nations to reverse engineer UFO technology.

Some of the officials interviewed include newly confirmed Secretary of State Marco Rubio (who says in the trailer that, when it comes to this subject, “even presidents are operating on a need-to-know basis”), New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds and General Jim Clapper (who was a U.S. director of National Intelligence under President Barack Obama). Former Department of Defense official and longtime UAP disclosure advocate Christopher Mellon declares, “This is the biggest discovery in human history,” while former Department of Defense official and member of the government’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program Luis Elizondo says, “You have information being locked away that can change the trajectory of [our] species.”

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies...236114831/