the magic of a scatterscape {explored}
Image by conall..
Arachtober 06
My sort of magic! – I love the beauty of a scatterscape that just appears and finds me. This sort of photography feels somehow like foraging (which i love!) …& then I get the privilege of being the one that shares it on Flickr & I like that too – like feeding the cooked mushrooms or berries to family and friends.
But i do realise that magic is definitely the wrong term for this and am reflecting on the word magic.
Complex/hard to understand/impressive stuff seems like magic. so easy for people to look at complexity and get sucked into magic/supernatural belief/conspiracy theories – In our current 2020 year this seems more than ever
I see so much misinformation/conspiracy theory/superstition/supernatural belief on twitter/facebook & it is depressing/alarming/hard to understand to me.
The scientific method is the tried and tested way to work out truth but it doesn’t actually come naturally to humans. We have to learn that it works & we seem to be disregarding it recently.
Anti-science, anti-authority, anti-state is rife and gives us covid-crazyness, antivaxxers, evolution denial, AIDS denial climate change denial and more.
It seems to me that the easier information/facts/informed commentary are to find, the worse people get at sifting and using it. & the more people feel it is ok to follow a narrative that appeals to their attitude rather than an evidence trail.
& so hard to tackle it and depressingly, whatever you say, "they" just find a “ah but..” to move the goalposts. I watch folks in twitter challenge and explain and then get ground down by obfuscation/abuse/certainty/making up "facts"
Have you ever heard of Brandolini’s principle? (bullshit asymmetry principle)?
From wiki: "The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it." – in essence it so simple to say something wrong/provocative/misleading
but it is a massive effort to refute/disprove/challenge –
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandolini%27s_law
My sense is that all this 2020 distrust of expertise and science, the popularity of conspiracy theories and superstition/religion represent the the biggest threats to public health/environmental survival for our species and planet at present.
((most of the above based on a brief & unplanned email exchange about covid beliefs and mistrust in the middle of a very busy afternoon at work, this afternoon but it stayed in my head driving home this evening.))
Flickr is the crystallization of my stream of consciousness. I need to have that handy
Barry McGuire – Eve Of Destruction
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfZVu0alU0I
