Study suggests that Flat Eartherism spread via Youtube

from BoingBoing:

The rise in a belief that the Earth is flat is bizarre and somewhat frightening, a repudiation of one of the most basic elements of scientific consensus. Texas Tech University psych researcher Asheley R. Landrum attended a 2017 flat earth convention and interviewed 30 attendees to trace the origins of their belief in a flat earth, finding that Youtube videos were key to their journey into conspiracy theories; her findings were bolstered by a survey of more than 500 participants.

Landrum presented her research at an AAAS meeting a year ago, and it paints a compelling picture of the role Youtube plays in spreading conspiracy theories.

I think that a good model for understanding the spread of these theories needs to also take account of the breakdown of epistemological consensus about how we know things are true.

This breakdown has at least two contributing factors: the first is a decades-long, deliberate campaign to undermine the consensus about how we know things are true, from the denial of the link between cancer and smoking to climate denial. The denial playbook starts with undermining the idea that science produces reliable outcomes, or that a scientific consensus can be trusted.

But denialism is greatly augmented by a legitimate perception of corruption in both expert circles and regulators. The anti-vax movement, for example, relies on two true facts to suggest an untrue conclusion:

* the pharma industry is corrupt and willing to endanger people for profit; and

* regulators are captured by pharma and willing to let them get away with it; therefore

* vaccines can't be trusted.

In a democracy that values free expression, it's hard to imagine how we'll get people to stop saying untrue things (though of course we can tweak our suggestion algorithms to stop prioritizing "engagement," which ends up promoting untrue things).

But we can (and indeed, must) address the legitimate concerns of conspiracy theorists: the ability fo self-dealing, powerful companies to get away with bad acts, and the willingness of regulators to let them.

If you want to learn more about Flat Eartherism, I strongly recommend this interview with Mark Sargent, a notorious Flat Earther, who talked with the skeptical podcast Oh No Ross and Carrie in late 2017. Sargent's frank discussion of his conspiracy theory mindset provides really important insight into an extremely frightening breakdown in reason in our society.

“Believing the Earth is flat in of itself is not necessarily harmful, but it comes packaged with a distrust in institutions and authority more generally,” she added. “We want people to be critical consumers of the information they are given, but there is a balance to be had.”

Landrum called on scientists and others to create their own YouTube videos to combat the proliferation of conspiracy videos. “We don’t want YouTube to be full of videos saying here are all these reasons the Earth is flat. We need other videos saying here’s why those reasons aren’t real and here’s a bunch of ways you can research it for yourself.”

But she conceded that some Flat Earthers may not be swayed by a scientists’ words. When the US astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson explained how small sections of large curved surfaces will always appear flat to the little creatures that crawl upon it, his message was seen by some Flat Earthers as patronising and dismissive, Landrum said.

Believing in A Flat Earth [Asheley Landrum/AAAS] (slides)
Study blames YouTube for rise in number of Flat Earthers [Ian Sample/The Guardian]

some religious and science videos found last night

Michael Caine on Blinking

Luck : A Compilation of Close Calls

Luck is a genuinely nerve-wracking 9.5 minute compilation videos featuring people nearly getting smushed, bashed, crushed, smeared, and just plain killed by falling trees, speeding trains and cars, and all other manner of sudden death averted. Everyone is fine, no one is hurt [badly]



via BoingBoing

I'm happy we don't have our books stacked up too high, nor do we have a fork lift!

watch this whole place come down...

What i was watching the most on You Tube last month

WARNING: I usually am watching with my 2 year old.


This one is just cool.


simply great brainwashing good advice.


I swear the track on this one could have been a great punk rock song.


Cool classic school house Rock style.


This one i am just sick of, but the lyrics and music are just killing me, it's kind of like some early 80's British new wave pop crap.


Title says it all... some nice drum fills!

Out of the city for a few days... and this is how i feel

actually i feel like this in the city most days as well ;-)

You Tube deletes my channel - WTF?

Dear Glen,
We are required by law to terminate accounts when they are found to repeatedly infringe copyright. Because you have had other videos rejected in the past, we are unable to reinstate your account.

Sincerely,
Jacob
The YouTube Team

Well the other videos i had rejected were short TV clips, that never even made it on YouTube. This current clip in question was a news report from Time Warner's NY1 news channel. But the irony is the news story was about the 1st phase of my "Liberty Street protest" - So I called the licencing dept. at NY1 spoke to some one there and they sincerely apologized and said they would write YouTube explaining the situation and if i left the video off they'd support me getting my account back.

Well no such luck. Not so bad for the clips I posted (other than Evan Bernards "Pound which got almost two million views since i posted it) because the best ones people have copied and posted or i have posted other places on the Internet, the really bad news is that I lost all the videos i marked as favorites and they won't even send me those URL's... Am i supposed to remember those? That's why i "favored" them! I think YouTube is amazing, but don't ever expect a fair shake from their legal department.

So even after NY1 wrote them, to tell them I was not such a bad offender;

We understand that the account... was closed down due to a copyright infringement complaint made by us. We’ve been in contact with the owner of the account, Glenn Friedman, and have settled the matter. We would like to help Glenn get his account re-opened ... Please let us know how we can assist Glenn.
Thank you,
Rxxxx Bxxxxxx
TWC Local News Division
Licensing & Clearances

Decent enough for them to write that. Then I get this back:

Dear Glen,
Based on the communication we have had with NY1, we will not be able to restore your account.
Sincerely,
Jacob
The YouTube Team

Damn...

Death Metal Parrots

and if you want to see the Death Metal Dog go here.

The Beatbox Battle World Championship "Wildcard"

From the back seat of a car this young lady sends in her video entry as a wild card. Talk about chillaxin'...
from NPR.org

Who's the greatest beatboxer in the world? We'll soon find out, when the annual Beatbox Battle World Championship gets underway in Berlin, Germany on May 28. Each year contestants from all over the world flock to the city to lay down some sweet, human-generated beats in hopes of snagging the grand prize. This year's winner will be crowned on May 31.
In the meantime, the BBWC has announced the winner of its wildcard competition. It's Julia Dales, a 17 year-old from Canada:



Julia Dales took first place as a wildcard, so she gets a shot at winning the whole thing.

(thanks, BoingBoing)

An anthropological introduction to YouTube

Good friend and producer Eric Matthies sent me this the other day.
from Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Kansas State University. This is really great.

Here's a shorty to whet the appetite

Thought you'd dig this - it's one of the best studies of media culture I've seen yet. 55 min. long so be warned.

ThruYOU Kutiman mixes YouTube

I was turned onto this from Adam Horovitz's blog.
Apparently this guy mixes stuff from YouTube to make new jams, pretty fucking incredible.
check the clip then check the you tube page for the full credits where every clip comes from and then the guy's own page for more. totally insane.



Just found this cool piece after the fact in the Huffington Post.