Thread by @PhilippMarkolin

Scientists only know how to fight #fictions with facts

And that is a dramatic #disadvantage on social media

My latest article is on the #asymmetric power that keeps the #lableak conspiracy myth alive despite mounting scientific evidence against it

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protagonistfuture.substack.com/p/a-tale-of-tw…

In the article, I explain why every time a new scientific report from experts comes out on the origins (like today 🔽), a social media machinery kicks into gear to defame & #harass scientists, push counter-narratives & #poison the infosphere

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pnas.org/doi/full/10.10…

This is no coincidence, but the inevitable outcome of our broken info sphere & #epistemic crisis.

A crisis where people lose the ability to assess what is real or true.

See, #information has a special function in society it does not only inform our choices and beliefs...

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...it also shapes our perception of reality.

Many of the frictions in today's connected online societies boil down to a fragmentation of our perception of reality, and these #fragmented realities drive our current #epistemic crisis.

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This epistemic crisis makes us incredibly vulnerable to the #asymmetric forces, actors & behaviors that shape online conversations, and with it, empower engaging #conspiracy myths over science.

Even worse, malicious actors can use #conspiracy myths for their strategic aims

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Despite what you might have heard, seen, or read online, after 2+ years of research, we can say the #lableak theory is scientifically dead.

But the #lableak conspiracy myth is alive and well. And it likely will never go away.

theconversation.com/the-covid-lab-…
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No matter how much evidence scientists achieve to accumulate, no matter how bad the arguments for a #lableak, or how often the #conspiracy myth has to transform and shift goalposts, it is impossible to wake up #lableak influencers & grifters who only pretend to sleep.

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That is the sad reality of our #information age.

More hopeful times would see the scientific process of slowly approximating more likely truths with #shared pride in our human #ingenuity.

Science has power too, the power to free us of false beliefs, no matter how popular...
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...but only if we let it.

I believe true #agency over our lives can only come from perceiving reality as it is, not from living in false #myths others have created for our shallow convenience (and their benefit)

And I certainly hope I am not alone

/end
protagonistfuture.substack.com/p/a-tale-of-tw…

Addition: Important and wonderful #scicomm thread from @PeterDaszak about the latest independent task force report on the origins of Covid.

Read the whole thing to get an intuition why emerging zoonotic disease experts are confident it was not a #lableak.

https://twitter.com/PeterDaszak/status/1579555634122747904

Here is also the medium version of the article with a friend link for free access!

medium.com/advances-in-bi…