Offline GoldCashew

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The internet's influence on Conspiracy Theories
« on: May 10, 2020, 09:21:40 AM »
Hi,

Would be curious to know if there has been any correlation study done or data gathering excercise to track the growth (or decline) in the belief of the earth as being a flat disk vs. Time, starting before the age of the internet and going up to this year.

My prediction would be that believing in a flat disk earth as well as the space travel conspiracy that goes with it would be:
- very small, say in the 1980's and into the 1990's
- with the age of the internet booming in the 1990's and into the 2000's the uptick would still be relatively small
- into the mid 2000's to now would see a huge uptick and exponential growth.

I believe that people who have come to believe in the existence of a flat earth disk as well as the space travel conspiracy get to this point because:
● they tend to more easily fall into the internet rabbit holes of information and conspiracy theory's, unable to have sufficient insight into what's real VS. not real. The advent of the internet magnifies this.
● misinformation on the internet yields becomming misinformed into believing that they're on the forefront of self-awarenes and onto a big discovery.

It would be interesting to also see this data expressed across age groups, where I would predict that younger people (say in their early 20's to mid 30's) would comprise the majority of the flat disk belief.

Thank you.
« Last Edit: May 10, 2020, 02:01:34 PM by GoldCashew »

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Offline TomInAustin

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Re: The internet's influence on Conspiracy Theories
« Reply #1 on: May 11, 2020, 04:06:53 PM »
Hi,

Would be curious to know if there has been any correlation study done or data gathering excercise to track the growth (or decline) in the belief of the earth as being a flat disk vs. Time, starting before the age of the internet and going up to this year.

My prediction would be that believing in a flat disk earth as well as the space travel conspiracy that goes with it would be:
- very small, say in the 1980's and into the 1990's
- with the age of the internet booming in the 1990's and into the 2000's the uptick would still be relatively small
- into the mid 2000's to now would see a huge uptick and exponential growth.

I believe that people who have come to believe in the existence of a flat earth disk as well as the space travel conspiracy get to this point because:
● they tend to more easily fall into the internet rabbit holes of information and conspiracy theory's, unable to have sufficient insight into what's real VS. not real. The advent of the internet magnifies this.
● misinformation on the internet yields becomming misinformed into believing that they're on the forefront of self-awarenes and onto a big discovery.

It would be interesting to also see this data expressed across age groups, where I would predict that younger people (say in their early 20's to mid 30's) would comprise the majority of the flat disk belief.

Thank you.

Very timely post.   I was watching the UFO series Hanger 1 on Netflix last night.  It amazes me how good some people are at tieing one conspiracy to another.   Its no wonder we have so many crazy ideas.
Do you have a citation for this sweeping generalisation?

Offline BRrollin

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Re: The internet's influence on Conspiracy Theories
« Reply #2 on: May 11, 2020, 11:27:42 PM »
Hi,

Would be curious to know if there has been any correlation study done or data gathering excercise to track the growth (or decline) in the belief of the earth as being a flat disk vs. Time, starting before the age of the internet and going up to this year.

My prediction would be that believing in a flat disk earth as well as the space travel conspiracy that goes with it would be:
- very small, say in the 1980's and into the 1990's
- with the age of the internet booming in the 1990's and into the 2000's the uptick would still be relatively small
- into the mid 2000's to now would see a huge uptick and exponential growth.

I believe that people who have come to believe in the existence of a flat earth disk as well as the space travel conspiracy get to this point because:
● they tend to more easily fall into the internet rabbit holes of information and conspiracy theory's, unable to have sufficient insight into what's real VS. not real. The advent of the internet magnifies this.
● misinformation on the internet yields becomming misinformed into believing that they're on the forefront of self-awarenes and onto a big discovery.

It would be interesting to also see this data expressed across age groups, where I would predict that younger people (say in their early 20's to mid 30's) would comprise the majority of the flat disk belief.

Thank you.

Very timely post.   I was watching the UFO series Hanger 1 on Netflix last night.  It amazes me how good some people are at tieing one conspiracy to another.   Its no wonder we have so many crazy ideas.

I think the number has remained fairly proportional to the population. There will always be societal outcasts that cannot connect any other way.

What the internet brought us is a stage for them to bark louder.
“This just shows that you don't even understand the basic principle of UA...A projectile that goes up and then down again to an observer on Earth is not accelerating, it is the observer on Earth who accelerates.”

- Parsifal


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