Why do some people believe in pseudoscience?
It's a question that I'm sure that many skeptics have asked when they encounter someone who believes in something that has been discredited for years (sometime centuries).
Doing a little bit of research into the subject, as well as a bit of thinking, I've come up with quite a few reasons why some people actually believe in pseudoscience.
11. It goes along with their beliefs.
Due to either religious or personal beliefs (or a combination of both) some people will believe in the pseudoscientific explanation for something, rather than the scientific explanation for something, if the pseudoscientific explanation goes along with their beliefs. Sometimes this will even go so far as to out right reject and ignore the scientific explanation, so long as the pseudoscientific explanation goes along with their beliefs, and the scientific explanation does not.
Examples of this would be people who have strong biblical beliefs rejecting the theory of evolution in place of intelligent design because intelligent design goes along with the creation story, or people who reject modern medicine in place of alternative medicine or believe in claims that vaccines cause autism because they believe pharmaceutical companies are evil, or people who believe that GMO foods are bad for you because they believe that organic foods are better for you and that GMO foods aren't tested or regulated.
10. Real science can be difficult to understand.
I have to admit, there are some things in science that are just difficult to understand, and unless you already have a decent amount of knowledge about a certain scientific field, you probably aren't going to understand whats going on if someone is discussing something about that scientific field.
Pseudoscience on the other hand is usually much easier to understand than real science, and because pseudoscience tends to be much easier to understand than real science, it can attract some people who have become frustrated with real science and their inability to understand it.
9. It sounds more awesome.
Besides being difficult to understand, science can also be boring to some people.
Because some people find the real scientific explanations to certain things to be boring and uninteresting, some people will go over to the pseudoscientific explanations, because it sounds a lot more exciting.
An example of this would be the explanation by ancient astronaut theorists that the Great Pyramid at Giza was constructed by aliens using their advanced technology for reasons unknown. Sounds a lot more exciting than the actual scientific explanation in that it was a giant monument and tomb constructed over a 20 year period by thousands of people for some egotistical Pharaoh.
8. It sounds more logical.
For some people that don't have a good understanding of both how science and logic works, a pseudoscientific explanation can actually sound a lot more logical than an actual scientific and/or logical explanation for certain things.
Lets take crop circles for example. Some people believe that crop circles are made by aliens as a way to send us a message. To some people this sounds more logical than the actual explanation of a bunch of pranksters getting together and creating these geometric shapes in wheat fields using rope and 2x4s.
7. It makes them feel smart.
Because real science can be hard to understand, it can make certain people feel dumb when they try to understand it and just can't. On the other hand because many things in pseudoscience are easy for most people to understand, and because of the false assumption that it is real science, it can make people feel smart when they understand it.
Because of the fact that they can understand it (and because they feel that it makes them look smart because they understand it) they might be more inclined to believe in it.
6. They were taught it and have yet to be exposed to the facts.
Most of the time when a person believes in a pseudoscience it's because it either makes them feel smart due to their lack of knowledge in the field of science, or they're just being stubborn in their beliefs that don't go along with the scientific and/or logical explanation. Sometimes of course it could also be that they were taught the pseudoscientific explanation, and never was exposed to the facts.
This could come in two different means: First, it could be because of an overbearing parent who refuses to allow their child to learn the scientific explanation for something in place of their own personal and/or religious beliefs (as is the case with many fundamentalist Christian parents who homeschool their children and only teaches them "intelligent design"). Second, it could be because what a person believes to a science fact is really a scientific misconception and they've had no reason to find out if it was true or not.
5. A celebrity believes in it.
Celebrities, much like the rest of us, are only human, and because of this many celebrities believe in some pseudosciences. Because celebrities can also be so influential to certain people, and can give off the misconception that they are smart, it can make some people believe that it's cool or okay to believe in that pseudoscience because this celebrity believes in it, and that it must be true because they believe that celebrity is smart, which may or may not be the case.
Most of the time this harmless because the pseudoscience the celebrity believes in is harmless. Sometimes it's not.
4. A scientist endorses it.
Much like celebrities, scientists are also humans as well. Because of this sometimes scientists will endorse a pseudoscience too.
Because an actual scientist, or doctor, or engineer officially endorses a pseudoscience, it can cause some people to not only believe in that pseudoscience, but even refuse to believe otherwise despite a majority of scientists, or doctors, or engineers who say otherwise and can back up their reasons why.
3. It was once considered real science.
There are several different types of pseudosciences out there that at one time were considered to be real sciences, but was either discredited by, or over taken by real science.
Because somethings were once considered to be real science, some people might be inclined to believed that it is still considered to be real science. Or, it could because they don't believe it should be outright abandoned.
2. The possibility it could be real.
There are some pseudosciences that exist not because the subject at hand is real, but because of the possibility that it is real.
Because there are certain pseudoscientific subjects that could be real (no matter how remote) this could lead some people to believing it really is real. Or, this could cause some people to believe in a pseudoscience is real just incase it ever is proven to be real and they don't look like a fool.
1. It goes along with something they are trying to sell.
Sometimes belief in a pseudoscience doesn't just make logical sense to some people, it can also make finical sense as well, especially if they are selling some product or service based on pseudoscience (like alternative medicine). This can be due to the combination of wanting something you're selling to work, and customers telling you that it works.
Showing posts with label Crop circles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crop circles. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Friday, July 12, 2013
5 Things I've noticed about... Crop Circles
Crop circles. For decades now they've been appearing in crop fields around the world. Sometimes they're small, simple circles. Sometimes they are enormous and complex, and contain multiple different shapes. While there are many things I've noticed about crop circles, I have narrowed it down to five things.
So here are things I've noticed about crop circles.
5. They're a poor way to communicate.
If aliens really are making these geometric shapes in fields of barley and wheat as a means to communicate with humans (as what many people who still believe that crop circles are made by aliens claim) then it really has to be the worst way to communicate with another intelligent species.
Beside the fact that whomever makes these things would require the people that they are intended for to be able to fly somehow (which is of course easy for us now) it would also require those people to have an understanding of what those shapes mean. That is of course if those shapes have any meaning to them at all...
To simply put, it would be far easier and less confusing for aliens to land in a public area and start talking to people than it would to putting shapes in a field of crops.
4. It's vandalism.
Regardless of whether or not it's bored human who want to create a giant piece of art, or aliens from a distant planet trying to communicate with up in the worst possible way, it's still vandalism, and it's not only damaging a part of a person's property, it's also destroying a part of a person's livelihood, and it's destroying food.
I would think that any beings that were advanced enough to build space ships that could cross hundreds, if not thousands of light years, would at the very least know it's not nice to destroy another species food even if it was to send a message (that no one can figure out).
I would say that I would like to know what kind of species makes these crop circles, but I already know which species makes these crop circles, because...
3. We make them.
Yes, despite what many people believe, crop circles are in fact made by humans. It doesn't matter how large or complex they are, human beings (sometimes many human beings at once) are the ones who are making these things.
Not only is it known that humans make them, it's been known for over 20 years that humans make them (and it was greatly suspected even when crop circles first started appearing in the 70's that they were made by humans). There's even videos on Youtube showing how to make crop circles:
2. There are people who still believe they are made by aliens.
Despite the fact that it's been known for over two decades now that humans are the ones making crop circles (with plenty of videos and arrest records to prove it) there are still people out there who refuse to believe that groups of people can get together, go out to some farmer's crop field in the middle of the night, and make some geometric shapes in a pattern...
Besides believing that these crop circles are made by aliens, they are very adamant about their belief that crop circles being messages from aliens, often times to the point of which they become hostel towards those whom tell them that crop circles are made by humans.
1. They're very artistic.
I admit it, I think crop circles are very artistic looking and pleasing to the eyes, and the size and scale of these creations, not to mention the complexity of some of these creations, just makes these things look awesome (despite the fact that they're still acts of vandalism). Some people even say that they're a form of modern art.
This is in fact all that crop circles, art. They are not made by aliens. They are made by humans. Even the seemingly very complex ones can be easily made by humans after enough practice.
There is no hidden messages behind these things. They're just there to be look at and be admired.
So here are things I've noticed about crop circles.
5. They're a poor way to communicate.
If aliens really are making these geometric shapes in fields of barley and wheat as a means to communicate with humans (as what many people who still believe that crop circles are made by aliens claim) then it really has to be the worst way to communicate with another intelligent species.
Beside the fact that whomever makes these things would require the people that they are intended for to be able to fly somehow (which is of course easy for us now) it would also require those people to have an understanding of what those shapes mean. That is of course if those shapes have any meaning to them at all...
To simply put, it would be far easier and less confusing for aliens to land in a public area and start talking to people than it would to putting shapes in a field of crops.
4. It's vandalism.
Regardless of whether or not it's bored human who want to create a giant piece of art, or aliens from a distant planet trying to communicate with up in the worst possible way, it's still vandalism, and it's not only damaging a part of a person's property, it's also destroying a part of a person's livelihood, and it's destroying food.
I would think that any beings that were advanced enough to build space ships that could cross hundreds, if not thousands of light years, would at the very least know it's not nice to destroy another species food even if it was to send a message (that no one can figure out).
I would say that I would like to know what kind of species makes these crop circles, but I already know which species makes these crop circles, because...
3. We make them.
Yes, despite what many people believe, crop circles are in fact made by humans. It doesn't matter how large or complex they are, human beings (sometimes many human beings at once) are the ones who are making these things.
Not only is it known that humans make them, it's been known for over 20 years that humans make them (and it was greatly suspected even when crop circles first started appearing in the 70's that they were made by humans). There's even videos on Youtube showing how to make crop circles:
2. There are people who still believe they are made by aliens.
Despite the fact that it's been known for over two decades now that humans are the ones making crop circles (with plenty of videos and arrest records to prove it) there are still people out there who refuse to believe that groups of people can get together, go out to some farmer's crop field in the middle of the night, and make some geometric shapes in a pattern...
Besides believing that these crop circles are made by aliens, they are very adamant about their belief that crop circles being messages from aliens, often times to the point of which they become hostel towards those whom tell them that crop circles are made by humans.
1. They're very artistic.
I admit it, I think crop circles are very artistic looking and pleasing to the eyes, and the size and scale of these creations, not to mention the complexity of some of these creations, just makes these things look awesome (despite the fact that they're still acts of vandalism). Some people even say that they're a form of modern art.
This is in fact all that crop circles, art. They are not made by aliens. They are made by humans. Even the seemingly very complex ones can be easily made by humans after enough practice.
There is no hidden messages behind these things. They're just there to be look at and be admired.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Robbert van Broeke: Now Nancy Talbott tells Chorley family to “get on with your life”
By
Now, since this whole saga started, with Robbert claiming to have contacted various dead crop circle related figures, and the general howls of disgust from the crop circle community, I was surprised that suddenly Talbott, Van Broeke and other supporters such as Suzanne Taylor, suddenly became very, very quiet. It seems that after the outrage they were keeping their heads down. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. As Colin Andrews has posted on his website, Nancy Talbott has been very vocal and very blunt by telling the complaining Chorley family to “get on with your life”. So love and light!
The Chorley family have felt very upset with the whole affair and have contacted Nancy directly. Nancy has responded thus:
“Mr. Chorley,
Please save yourself the time and trouble of any further correspondence. You have already made your viewpoint clear and I have done my best to do the same. I don’t intend to read any additional assaults on my or Robbert’s intelligence or integrity. You must either accept what I have written as truthful, or not, and get on with your life–because I have said what I can.
Sincerely,
Nancy Talbott”
That is about as sensitive and conciliatory as a house-brick to the side of your head.
Understandably the Chorley family have responded:
To continue this article: Robbert van Broeke: Now Nancy Talbott tells Chorley family to “get on with your life”
Now, since this whole saga started, with Robbert claiming to have contacted various dead crop circle related figures, and the general howls of disgust from the crop circle community, I was surprised that suddenly Talbott, Van Broeke and other supporters such as Suzanne Taylor, suddenly became very, very quiet. It seems that after the outrage they were keeping their heads down. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. As Colin Andrews has posted on his website, Nancy Talbott has been very vocal and very blunt by telling the complaining Chorley family to “get on with your life”. So love and light!
The Chorley family have felt very upset with the whole affair and have contacted Nancy directly. Nancy has responded thus:
“Mr. Chorley,
Please save yourself the time and trouble of any further correspondence. You have already made your viewpoint clear and I have done my best to do the same. I don’t intend to read any additional assaults on my or Robbert’s intelligence or integrity. You must either accept what I have written as truthful, or not, and get on with your life–because I have said what I can.
Sincerely,
Nancy Talbott”
That is about as sensitive and conciliatory as a house-brick to the side of your head.
Understandably the Chorley family have responded:
To continue this article: Robbert van Broeke: Now Nancy Talbott tells Chorley family to “get on with your life”
Friday, July 20, 2012
5 Famous UFO/ET Hoaxes that some people still think are real
Ever since the UFO phenomenon began back in the 1950s, there has been a huge amount of reported sightings of UFOs, along with photos and videos of these so called UFOs, and even contact with aliens.
As it turns out, many of these sighting, and photos and videos, are actually mis-identified natural phenomenon, or mis-identified man made objects. Of course, it also turns out that some of these UFO sighting, and photos and videos, are not as simple something that has been mis-identified, but are actually man made hoaxes, many of which are still believed by some people to be real.
Here are what I consider to be the top five most famous UFO/ET hoaxes that some people still believe are real:
5. Alien Autopsy
There are actually several so called alien autopsy films making their way around the internet claiming to show an actual alien autopsy, but the one that I'm talking about specifically is the now infamous film that had it's own television special called "Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction". From the beginning, many people were skeptical of the film, believed the answer was fiction.
Well, it turns out it was in fact, fiction.
Ray Santilli and Gary Shoefield, two of the people who helped create, release, and promote the footage, admitted in 2006 that the footage was indeed fake, although for some reason they then claimed that the film was a "reconstruction" of an earlier film they claim to have seen, but deteriorate right after they viewed it...
There are also a lot of people who still think the film is real, but that maybe because they haven't heard that it was fake, or they refuse to accept the truth.
4. The Johnathan Reed video
In 2002 a claim made by a man named Dr. Johnathan Reed start circulating around the UFO community that back in 1996 Dr. Reed encountered an alien in the woods near his home, and that it killed his dog. After this alleged attack, instead of running away, he hit the alien in the head with a large branch. After all this, he still managed to get out his video camera, video tape the alien, the alien's apparent space craft, get the half alien dead alien back to his jeep, take it home, and continue to examine it in his garage while still video taping..
While many people considered this footage to be quite extraordinarily, there were many others who were skeptical from the beginning, and deemed it to be a hoax. And it turns out they were right.
In 2010 a team from the television show "Fact or Fake: Paranormal Files" investigated this video. Not only were they able to duplicate the video also exactly like the original, they also did a voice analyse stress test on Dr. Reed as well from an interview he gave the investigators. The test indicated that he was most likely being deceptive about his video.
Despite the show's investigation, many people still refuse to accept the fact that the video is a fake, and even claimed that the show was misleading about the facts.
3. Billy Meier's photos and videos
Billy Meier's photos and videos of UFOs from the 1970's are considered within the UFO community to be some of the best evidence of UFOs ever, but many skeptics, including those within the UFO community itself, consider his photos and videos to be fake.
Many of Meier's photos and videos of the UFOs he claimed to have taken have been duplicated over the years by skeptics, and many people have noted problems with his photos and videos as well, indicating that they are most likely fake. His ex-wife has even claimed that all of his alien visitations he claims to have had are made up, and that the UFOs in the photos and videos look like several models he made out of house hold items. He has also been unwilling to hand over any physical evidence that he claims to have for testing.
In spite of the fact that there is just so much evidence that all of his photos and videos are fake, he still claims that they are genuine, and he still has a lot of supporters who think so too.
2. The McPherson Tape
In 1989 a very low budget, found footage genre film commonly known as "The McPherson Tape" premiered to the world, and many people in the UFO community saw this film as being not only real, but as proof that aliens were actually abducting humans.
The film's creators soon after came clean about the film, even producing photos of the alien costumes and the "spaceship". There was even a remake of the film that premiered in 1998 that even has an alternate ending.
Despite all of this, there are many people who still believe that the film is real, and that the "family" in the film (all of whom are actors who aren't even related to each other) are being frightened by the government and being forced to claim that the footage is fake.
1. Crop Circles
For over 30 years crop circles have been appearing around the English countryside, and eventually this phenomenon spread around world. At first, many people thought that the the circles were being created by aliens, because it was claimed that humans could not have created such designs large designs over night, and bend the crops in the way that was done, but in 1991 two people by names of Doug Bower and Dave Chorley came forward and admitted that they had created many of the crop circles in England, and even showed the media how to make a crop circle.
Since then many people around the world have been making crop circles on their own. Some have even made videos of themselves making these crop circles, even very complex ones, and then posting those videos online. Some people have even been caught making crop circles, and have faced legal issues because of it.
Yet, there are still a lot of people who believe that crop circles are made by aliens. In fact, there is even a group of people called Cereologist who study crop circles, and usually claim that most are made by aliens, and that the videos of people showing how to make crop circles are part of a conspiracy by the government to make people believe crop circles are a hoax.
As it turns out, many of these sighting, and photos and videos, are actually mis-identified natural phenomenon, or mis-identified man made objects. Of course, it also turns out that some of these UFO sighting, and photos and videos, are not as simple something that has been mis-identified, but are actually man made hoaxes, many of which are still believed by some people to be real.
Here are what I consider to be the top five most famous UFO/ET hoaxes that some people still believe are real:
5. Alien Autopsy
There are actually several so called alien autopsy films making their way around the internet claiming to show an actual alien autopsy, but the one that I'm talking about specifically is the now infamous film that had it's own television special called "Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction". From the beginning, many people were skeptical of the film, believed the answer was fiction.
Well, it turns out it was in fact, fiction.
Ray Santilli and Gary Shoefield, two of the people who helped create, release, and promote the footage, admitted in 2006 that the footage was indeed fake, although for some reason they then claimed that the film was a "reconstruction" of an earlier film they claim to have seen, but deteriorate right after they viewed it...
There are also a lot of people who still think the film is real, but that maybe because they haven't heard that it was fake, or they refuse to accept the truth.
4. The Johnathan Reed video
In 2002 a claim made by a man named Dr. Johnathan Reed start circulating around the UFO community that back in 1996 Dr. Reed encountered an alien in the woods near his home, and that it killed his dog. After this alleged attack, instead of running away, he hit the alien in the head with a large branch. After all this, he still managed to get out his video camera, video tape the alien, the alien's apparent space craft, get the half alien dead alien back to his jeep, take it home, and continue to examine it in his garage while still video taping..
While many people considered this footage to be quite extraordinarily, there were many others who were skeptical from the beginning, and deemed it to be a hoax. And it turns out they were right.
In 2010 a team from the television show "Fact or Fake: Paranormal Files" investigated this video. Not only were they able to duplicate the video also exactly like the original, they also did a voice analyse stress test on Dr. Reed as well from an interview he gave the investigators. The test indicated that he was most likely being deceptive about his video.
Despite the show's investigation, many people still refuse to accept the fact that the video is a fake, and even claimed that the show was misleading about the facts.
3. Billy Meier's photos and videos
Billy Meier's photos and videos of UFOs from the 1970's are considered within the UFO community to be some of the best evidence of UFOs ever, but many skeptics, including those within the UFO community itself, consider his photos and videos to be fake.
Many of Meier's photos and videos of the UFOs he claimed to have taken have been duplicated over the years by skeptics, and many people have noted problems with his photos and videos as well, indicating that they are most likely fake. His ex-wife has even claimed that all of his alien visitations he claims to have had are made up, and that the UFOs in the photos and videos look like several models he made out of house hold items. He has also been unwilling to hand over any physical evidence that he claims to have for testing.
In spite of the fact that there is just so much evidence that all of his photos and videos are fake, he still claims that they are genuine, and he still has a lot of supporters who think so too.
2. The McPherson Tape
In 1989 a very low budget, found footage genre film commonly known as "The McPherson Tape" premiered to the world, and many people in the UFO community saw this film as being not only real, but as proof that aliens were actually abducting humans.
The film's creators soon after came clean about the film, even producing photos of the alien costumes and the "spaceship". There was even a remake of the film that premiered in 1998 that even has an alternate ending.
Despite all of this, there are many people who still believe that the film is real, and that the "family" in the film (all of whom are actors who aren't even related to each other) are being frightened by the government and being forced to claim that the footage is fake.
1. Crop Circles
For over 30 years crop circles have been appearing around the English countryside, and eventually this phenomenon spread around world. At first, many people thought that the the circles were being created by aliens, because it was claimed that humans could not have created such designs large designs over night, and bend the crops in the way that was done, but in 1991 two people by names of Doug Bower and Dave Chorley came forward and admitted that they had created many of the crop circles in England, and even showed the media how to make a crop circle.
Since then many people around the world have been making crop circles on their own. Some have even made videos of themselves making these crop circles, even very complex ones, and then posting those videos online. Some people have even been caught making crop circles, and have faced legal issues because of it.
Yet, there are still a lot of people who believe that crop circles are made by aliens. In fact, there is even a group of people called Cereologist who study crop circles, and usually claim that most are made by aliens, and that the videos of people showing how to make crop circles are part of a conspiracy by the government to make people believe crop circles are a hoax.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Thrive: The Failure
Several months ago a conspiracy theory laden movie called "Thrive" premiered on the internet. One of the biggest claims that they made was that there were these designs for machines that could generate unlimited amounts of energy out of nothing. Basically, these were free energy machines. A week after the premier of this movie, I decided to send the website an email concerning these so called free energy machines. What I asked them for was blue prints and instructions on how to build one of these machines, what type of materials I should use to build such a machine, and a video of one being built until it's fully functional.
I assumed that because the free energy device, and the conspiracy theory that a small group of individuals were basically controlling the world and trying to suppress such technology, that they would be more then happy to show someone, like myself, how to build such a device.
The only email I ever received from them, so far, was an automated message basically telling me how to download the movie, and links to help promote the movie.
Apparently to the makers of this movie, it's more important to promote the movie it self, and the conspiracy theories within it, rather then to provide the actual proof that one of the devices it promotes, can be built.
On this part, and on so many others, Thrive has failed.
Most of the conspiracy theories and pseudo-sciences in this movie has either been debunked a long time ago, and even at the very best, are logically flawed, and with no real evidence what so ever to support the conspiracy theories and pseudo-science that is promoted in the film. In fact, several people who were interviewed in the film are now distancing themselves from the movie, and even denouncing it and it's creator, Foster Gamble, because of the conspiracy theories and pseudo-science that was promoted in the movie, and that they were mis-lead about what the film was truly about.
The movie also seems to have failed in the conspiracy theorist world as well. There isn't much talked about much among conspiracy theorist circles, unless they have very similar conspiracy theory beliefs to the Thrive movement itself. In fact some conspiracy theorists even believe that it's a dis-information movie. I've actually seen one such accusation myself from a member of the Zeitgeist movement, who accused it of being a dis-information movie created by the government and Scientology...
I speculate the reason why some conspiracy theorists believe this is a dis-information movie is because not only of some of the weird stuff it promotes, and sometimes even weirder people it attracts, but also because Foster Gamble was once an heir to Procter & Gamble, and because of this, some conspiracy theorists are just going to naturally believe that it must be a dis-information movie created by someone involved in a multi-national corporation.
It should also be noted that many people, both skeptics and supporters, see many similarities between Zeitgeist and Thrive, in that they both promote conspiracy theories, that they promote the belief that a group of elites are controlling the world through the banking system, that advanced technology will solve the world's ills, and that we must change our way of thinking. The only real differences between the two are that Zeitgeist doesn't promote UFO conspiracy theories, and Thrive doesn't promote Christ myth conspiracy theories.
Also, many supporters of Thrive are, or were, members of the Zeitgeist movement. Some skeptics and debunkers have even referred to Thrive as "Zeitgeist 2.0".
The fact remains is that Thrive has not made any real impact anywhere. In fact, if it wasn't for a couple of fellow skeptics and debunkers, who created the Thrive Debunked blog, I would never have even heard of Thrive in the first place, because there just aren't that many people talking about it, besides maybe a few people who to seriously believe in some pretty weird stuff.
I assumed that because the free energy device, and the conspiracy theory that a small group of individuals were basically controlling the world and trying to suppress such technology, that they would be more then happy to show someone, like myself, how to build such a device.
The only email I ever received from them, so far, was an automated message basically telling me how to download the movie, and links to help promote the movie.
Apparently to the makers of this movie, it's more important to promote the movie it self, and the conspiracy theories within it, rather then to provide the actual proof that one of the devices it promotes, can be built.
On this part, and on so many others, Thrive has failed.
Most of the conspiracy theories and pseudo-sciences in this movie has either been debunked a long time ago, and even at the very best, are logically flawed, and with no real evidence what so ever to support the conspiracy theories and pseudo-science that is promoted in the film. In fact, several people who were interviewed in the film are now distancing themselves from the movie, and even denouncing it and it's creator, Foster Gamble, because of the conspiracy theories and pseudo-science that was promoted in the movie, and that they were mis-lead about what the film was truly about.
The movie also seems to have failed in the conspiracy theorist world as well. There isn't much talked about much among conspiracy theorist circles, unless they have very similar conspiracy theory beliefs to the Thrive movement itself. In fact some conspiracy theorists even believe that it's a dis-information movie. I've actually seen one such accusation myself from a member of the Zeitgeist movement, who accused it of being a dis-information movie created by the government and Scientology...
I speculate the reason why some conspiracy theorists believe this is a dis-information movie is because not only of some of the weird stuff it promotes, and sometimes even weirder people it attracts, but also because Foster Gamble was once an heir to Procter & Gamble, and because of this, some conspiracy theorists are just going to naturally believe that it must be a dis-information movie created by someone involved in a multi-national corporation.
It should also be noted that many people, both skeptics and supporters, see many similarities between Zeitgeist and Thrive, in that they both promote conspiracy theories, that they promote the belief that a group of elites are controlling the world through the banking system, that advanced technology will solve the world's ills, and that we must change our way of thinking. The only real differences between the two are that Zeitgeist doesn't promote UFO conspiracy theories, and Thrive doesn't promote Christ myth conspiracy theories.
Also, many supporters of Thrive are, or were, members of the Zeitgeist movement. Some skeptics and debunkers have even referred to Thrive as "Zeitgeist 2.0".
The fact remains is that Thrive has not made any real impact anywhere. In fact, if it wasn't for a couple of fellow skeptics and debunkers, who created the Thrive Debunked blog, I would never have even heard of Thrive in the first place, because there just aren't that many people talking about it, besides maybe a few people who to seriously believe in some pretty weird stuff.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Thrive: The Debunking
Last week I saw a trailer for a new documentary called "Thrive: What on Earth will it take" by Foster Gamble .
The trailer starts out fine at first, but within 30 seconds it goes from asking a perfectly legitimate question of whether or not humans can thrive, to pseudo-science, and eventually conspiracy theories.
First, they talk about some secret "code" and "hidden" designs in ancient art work concerning the torus, and how it keeps showing up in so many ancient sites around the world.
This of course means nothing other then different cultures thousands of years ago interacted with each, picking up the pattern from one another, and reproducing it. It has nothing to do with some secret ancient codes (not exactly a secret either since it's right out in public).
While this part raised a red flag to me, I wasn't ready to outright to dismiss it as being nothing more then BS.
Then goes into UFOs, and that the government is covering up the truth about them, and that they have crashed alien space craft.
This raised a few more red flags for me, as that is nothing more then an unproven and probably untrue conspiracy theory, and I felt it was going way off of what I thought this documentary was going to be about.
But again, I was not about to dismiss this documentary as being nothing more then BS.
Then they talked about crop circles being communications from aliens.
This is when I dismissed this documentary as being nothing but BS.
Crop circles, even the very complex ones, are in fact man made. There are multiple websites and videos showing how they can be made in only a few hours, using some rope and a 2x4.
Then they go into where they claim that machines can be built, using the torus design, that can produce unlimited energy.
I won't actually outright say is impossible, but most scientists in the field of physics agree that a machine that could produce unlimited energy (no matter what the design is) is so highly improbable that it is considered to be outright impossible to build.
Then it goes down hill from there.
They then begin making claims that this technology is being suppressed (along with knowledge about UFOs) by large corporations (banks, oil, energy, pharmaceutics) and the government (which is implied is controlled by large corporations) and implies that these corporations are responsible for all the troubles in the world today.
And of course they tell you to "connect the dots", something that many conspiracy theorists do in order to try to prove their conspiracy theories when they have a lack of real evidence (which is almost always).
In my personal opinion, you should not waste your time, or money, on this documentary, but if you do actually wish to see what I am actually talking, here is a link the trailer to the movie:
And if you wish to read a much more in-depth debunking of this documentary, please click on the link below:
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