> I do believe there are memetic "contagions", but I also believe that a better solution is proper mental healthcare for those in need, like this person was.
People in general are just stupid, but no one seems to have the self-reflection necessary to recognize it.
Think about it like this.
You can look back in history and see actions and behaviors that make absolutely no sense. Those people were just stupid. Salem witch trials, the internment of the Japanese, concrete examples of mass hysteria, ad nauseum.
The question is, what are we doing that will look obviously stupid to people 100 years from now? "omg, they drill holes in their teeth and put metal in it?!?!".
The point is, these "memetics" have always existed in some form, what do you think local superstition is? To argue that this is only a problem for those in healthcare is extremely naive. Perfectly healthy, normal people, have on many occasions participated in various mass hysteria events or believed incorrect things. Blowing smoke up ones ass was literally a medical procedure.
The scary part about social media isn't about the social part, it's about the technology. Never in history has it been possible to manipulate so many people so easily.
This isn't a fight about people, it's a fight about control of the masses.
People in general are just stupid, but no one seems to have the self-reflection necessary to recognize it.
Think about it like this.
You can look back in history and see actions and behaviors that make absolutely no sense. Those people were just stupid. Salem witch trials, the internment of the Japanese, concrete examples of mass hysteria, ad nauseum.
The question is, what are we doing that will look obviously stupid to people 100 years from now? "omg, they drill holes in their teeth and put metal in it?!?!".
The point is, these "memetics" have always existed in some form, what do you think local superstition is? To argue that this is only a problem for those in healthcare is extremely naive. Perfectly healthy, normal people, have on many occasions participated in various mass hysteria events or believed incorrect things. Blowing smoke up ones ass was literally a medical procedure.
The scary part about social media isn't about the social part, it's about the technology. Never in history has it been possible to manipulate so many people so easily.
This isn't a fight about people, it's a fight about control of the masses.