Thread by @phelubabuji

When one points out that at least some parts of the Covid narrative are conspicuous, one is quickly labelled a conspiracy theorist. This begs the question: haven't conspiracies been hatched by individuals & groups even since the beginning of time? Follow me to unravel this one.

Human beings are mostly reliant on their five sensory informants: they are quick to intuitively dismiss what they cannot sense. And this has been built into us evolutionarily for good reason. Indian philosophers too encourage the use of pratyakṣa pramāṇa 'direct perception'.

But we are now convinced, through the mere power of repeated exposure, by the idea that we live in an age which is technologically so advanced, ever so sophisticated, that scientists have been able to isolate transmissible pathogens which cause disease. We don't question this.

Why not? Because so much of the thinking that we would do ourselves in the primitive past has now been outsourced: algorithms help us strategize & scientists do the science. We trust them to be honest & in case of the latter, to relate accurate information gathered using senses.

The most prominent scholars advance new truths, and these scientifically established axioms enters textbooks soon after. These days, this whole process occurs in a matter of a couple of years. History is written - he isolated that virus and so on. The gospel is put down on paper.

This is not very different from Abrahamic religions: a set of ideas find their way into stories of the early years of that faith, & in no time, they are transformed into theological doctrines - to be read, understood and internalized. Civilizations, value systems spring from them

It is considered 'blasphemous' to challenge them, just as it is blasphemous to challenge the foundations of virology today. This is different from the past - where past findings, conveyed especially through the written medium, held much lesser sway than one's own perception.

And yet, the brave amongst us have rebelled. Be it Tom Cowan, Andrew Kaufman, Stefan Lanka, Sam Bailey - or their courageous colleagues whose names I forget - all of them have conclusively shown that viruses have never been isolated in purified form. Not HIV not SARS not measles.

But most of us were never taught about this. Why? Because there is one history of science. One philosophy of science. One theory, the germ theory, which is correct. Everything else, is bad because it is 'old-fashioned'. But old fashioned things can be good, perhaps even superior.

Coming back to our five senses, we have been indoctrinated, from very early on, to overcome the need for sensory proof, and accept the existence and properties of these invisible dangerous pathogens. They exist. That's it. That's science.

But no, it is not. It is dogma alone.

When the foundations are shaky, there is little hope. Once you don't ask for proof of the very existence of the pathogen, because 'obviously some very intelligent people know it exists', you've lost the plot. But note that, these intelligent people also read the same textbooks.

Now that you're in the trap, you also willingly accept the other components of that information structure. Starting with the definition of a 'case'. A PCR positive. Again, Karry Mullis is erased from the pages of history. Easy peesy. Language is powerful and history is king.

This is a very important subconscious equivalence that you are taught to accept. Testing positive on something being an equivalent of dis-ease. Even though you are well. Again a breach of your sensory verification procedure. You allow it, agree to coin more nonsense: asymptomatic

And then you are taught to anticipate the symptoms, anticipate disease itself. Your thoughts act on your body. Of course, you are never told in school they do because that reality is not known to the teacher either. But regardless, you accept all the 'truths' served to you.

Now that PROBLEM and REACTION are out of the way, it's time for SOLUTION. Of course, since you never asked why and how for the first two, you surely won't ask for this one. Your senses are asleep, you don't question the need for a wax-ine, what it does, how it works. You obey.

Here again, the pratyakṣa pramāṇa, your senses can play a crucial role. You can sense that it made you ill. You can feel it, see it. But you roll up your 'sleeve' for the next shot. What you are doing is outmanoeuvring, transcending your instinctive wisdom to trust the science

To what end? At what cost? Time will tell. But in sum, betraying one's own senses over and over again eventually leaves one with no eyes to see what is worthy being beheld, no ears to hear one's voice of reason. It erases the boundary between general and personal intelligence.

This is how conspiracies are hatched. It's not difficult for them to hatch them because they understand the philosophical media through which they can manipulate human psychology and because, well, you don't. So don't arrogantly dismiss conspiracies. Instead, be humble, listen.