A Thread on Conspiracy and Humility.

8 months ago it was that 5G Caused #Coronavirus

7 months ago it was that @BillGates was trying to Microchip the world for Mind Control

6 months ago it was the Plandemic video and that #Covid was a lie to shoot up people with Vaccines. /1

5 months ago it was that FAUCI was a "deep-state" doctor.

4 months ago it was that COVID was a globalist plot for
social control

3 months ago it was that COVID was a liberal hoax to take down Trump /2

2 months ago it was that COVID death counts were exaggerated to get insurance money.

1 month ago it was that COVID would magically disappear when Biden was elected. /3

For every one of these conspiracies, there were 30 more that didn't get traction but were just as ontologically absurd. Valid only in so far as they could trend on the platforms. And then after the hive had consumed them, they moved on to the next one. /4

Meanwhile, during that same time period, a serious virus kept doing what it was programmed to do.

All while serious doctors and nurses kept fighting to keep people alive while putting themselves and their own families at risk. /5

While serious public health experts worked overtime to figure out ways to keep people safe.

And while serious scientists rushed to produce an effective vaccine for a novel virus in under a year's time.
/6

A miracle of science by any conventional definition. A contribution that will save an untold number of lives, rescue countless hours of lost wages and save massive decreases in quality of life, etc. /7

Grandparents that get to spend extra holidays with their grandkids. Kids who will grow up with parents that will be able to play with them who might have otherwise had asthma or COPD. Partners who won't have to devote all of their free time caring for a sick significant other. /8

I don't hate Covid-deniers and conspiracy theorists. They are mostly unserious people pretending to be serious. If the stakes weren't so high I would find them amusing from a sociological perspective. /9

But we are entering a phase where we are close to clocking a 9/11 level mortality event every day and so I would be lying if I said their hubris didn't get to me. The arrogance. The idea that somehow they have a special inside beat on it. That they see through the "lies". /10

As if they knew the difference between Polymerase Chain Reactions and Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reactions. As if they knew the software tradeoffs and security vulnerabilities of Optical Scan Sense voting machines and Direct Recording Electronic machines. /11

As if we should listen to their hot takes regarding the theoretical implications of quantum vacuum fluctuations or whether Kasparov should have opened differently against DEEP BLUE. /12

I am not an elitist or a credentialist anymore than I wouldn't dare question what pass Tom Brady decided to throw on 3rd and 5 or what approach Tiger Woods took on the 14th hole at Augusta. Any more than I would dare question a Hendrix or Clapton chord structure. /13

The real tell here is that these people don't even know who the Brady's and the Wood's and the Clapton's are in the field of molecular diagnostics and epidemiology and immunology. They don't even know the game or the players that they are so adamantly convinced are wrong. /14

And so we know these are not serious people because they have no skin in the game. They haven't devoted their lives to studying this stuff because to do so would be to have to actually get in the ring with Woods and Clapton and Brady and Hendrix. /15

It would be to come face to face with their epistemic incompetence. Forced to encounter how little they know in the shadow of such complexity and how worthless their opinions are in light of that. But at least there is honor and dignity in that. /16

Where there is no honor or dignity is running your mouth freely on social media, latching on to whatever the newest conspiratorial hot-take de jour is, and then going back to playing Call of Duty or building out your Etsy page and then going to bed satisfied with yourself. /17

...As if you accomplished something worthy with your day. As if they contributed something valuable to the cause.

Until 10 months ago these same people didn't understand the molecular difference between RNA and DNA and now they are "ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED" of a thing. /18

Covid is hard. The short term solutions are scant. The problem set is complex. There are serious and merit-worthy debates to be had on both sides of the political aisle. Debates about degrees and tactics and tools and efficacy. This thread is not about those debates. /19

This thread is about humility in the light of ignorance.

We are all ignorant in our own ways. That's built-in ahead of time. How arrogant we are in light of that fact though, well, call me naive but I'd still like to think we have a say in determining that. /END