(This is sort of like retweeting your own tweets, because I posted a version of this as a GIF back when Twitter only allowed 140 characters.)
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Lies spread faster than the truth because people need lies more. It's easy to find confirmation for correct beliefs, but confirmation for mistaken ones is rare. So people with mistaken beliefs are starving for confirmation of them, and eagerly consume anything that offers it.
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The mind detests the vacuum.
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That is exclusively true of other people.
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I struggle to determine when they are fooled by lies and when they knowingly play along
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I think some are fooled initially and later realize this consciously or unconsciously. At that point rather than admitting this publicly (conscious case) or to themselves (un- case) they start playing along. Now they've an incentive for not just consuming but helping to spread.
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do you have any quantitive analysis for this? Just cause I the stats I see in my projects don't support this (at all), but maybe I just need to set up a proper experiment ;)
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I did read about a study recently that confirmed this. Maybe a search will turn it up.
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The lies that spread fastest are those that confirm beliefs that people want to be true. The truth lies tell us is how much people want these statements to be true.
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Great insight! To add on, I would say the reason why people with mistaken beliefs are starving for confirmation, is because disproving what they thought to be true can result in cognitive dissonance. A breakdown in your fundamental way of thinking is scary.
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Yes. There is an infinity of fictions but only one reality (we could actually debate that haha). Lies spreading is survivorship bias. Many many many lies don’t make it very far.
End of conversation
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