Joe

“But this was how the mind worked. The mind couldn’t think about the End of the World all the time. It needed the occasional break, a romp through the trivial. Because it was through trivia that the mind was anchored in reality, as the largest oak tree was rooted, ultimately, in a system of rootlets no larger than the silver hairs on the president’s head.”
― Neal Stephenson, Seveneves

“Conspiracy theories are resistant to falsification in that they postulate that conspirators use stealth and disinformation to cover up their actions, which implies that people who try to debunk conspiracy theories may, themselves, be part of the conspiracy (Douglas et al., 2017).”
― Steven Taylor, The Psychology of Pandemics: Preparing for the Next Global Outbreak of Infectious Disease

“Evidence suggests that the tendency to believe in conspiracy theories is driven by motives that can be characterized as epistemic (needing to understand one’s environment), existential (needing to feel safe and in control of one’s environment), and social (needing to maintain a positive image of oneself and one’s in-group) (Douglas et al., 2017).”
― Steven Taylor, The Psychology of Pandemics: Preparing for the Next Global Outbreak of Infectious Disease

“Some people put their faith in violet-leaf tea, goose-grease poultices, garlic buds, castor oil, salt water snuffed up the nose, or hot coals sprinkled with sulphur or brown sugar and carried through the house accompanied by clouds of billowing smoke.”
― Steven Taylor, The Psychology of Pandemics: Preparing for the Next Global Outbreak of Infectious Disease