It’s easier for some people digest a grand conspiracy because they have a hard time rationalizing and accepting “shit happens” for a mass tragedy, pandemic, war, etc. It’s the same reason people buy “everything happens for a reason,” or that it’s “Gods Plan.” The fact is, everyone was unprepared globally and a lot of people have died. Most people alive in the West have never experienced true hardship. When it does come, it’s such a shock to the core that they can’t deal with it.
FYI, the company that acquired my (now old) company was Unity... and here's an interesting blog post about the work they've been doing with the pandemic around simulation and modelling. Well, we're now combining the 2 teams (their project and my project) and have a few interesting ideas on how we can take large scale health data and map it to localized micro-economies to help with modelling to help with the business decisions of what, how, and when to re-open various businesses. https://blogs.unity3d.com/2020/05/08/exploring-new-ways-to-simulate-the-coronavirus-spread/ We're pretty fucking excited about the potentials... concepts are, right now, to take an iPad Pro, model the environment, apply some simulation, categorize the env around things like casual contact and other viral spread metrics, then relate back to local economic and health data for some data-based guidelines/ideas. I tell you... this project has been really exciting... between throwing doctors, data scientists, electrical engineers, simulation people, etc at this, it's pretty fucking cool to see what's coming out of it. It's like a hackerthon on steroids.
An idea I've had for a while, that I've seen others express as well, is that throughout most of history people's communities have been to a large degree randomly selected. Obviously things like culture and geography are at play, so they're not totally random, but the instances of most "aberrant" traits were evenly distributed among communities and not clustered. The effect of this is a moderating influence on outliers because no one agreed with them and their community more or less forced them back into societal norms. The internet has changed that, allowing people to choose their communities, and while some of that has been liberating, there is also a part of it where people can find a community that will agree with and support almost any insane notion you'd like to think up. The number of people susceptible to crazy ideas hasn't really changed, but the number of people being moderated by the larger society has dropped, leading to an overall increase in active nutjobs.
Yep, I think that's a huge part of it. Between that and not telling people "you're a moron, STFU", it's validate, enabled, and empowered them with their batshit beliefs.
and given the fact that models are only as good as the assumptions you use when you’re making them, and you’re having some pretty fucking smart people making the assumptions, it’s exciting to see where this could go
Ahhh, that's so cute, you lot thinking businesses won't be open before you finish! We openin' here, back up, bitches!
Oh, we know. We also expect the second wave to be devastating and bring all the controls back into place. And we expect COVID 20.
Anyone else see the video of a bar in Texas that defied non-essential business closure orders and a bunch of AR-totin' folk came to "support" it, resulting in the local Sherrif rolling in with a fucking MRAP. I find it hilarious that these folks think that cops in Texas don't have guns, and a handful of rifles will intimidate law enforcement into letting them do whatever they want. Spoiler
It’s like choking somebody out, where you find the “sweet spot” between when they go limp and when you shut their hard drive off permanently.
For people who are dressed like and boast that they are there to fight the government tooth and nail, they certainly tuck tail and fold like scared little girls awfully quick. I guess it takes more than just squeezing your mayonnaise body into a Kevlar vest.
It was a peaceful protest not an armed revolt. Not long term thinkers though, felony record makes you a prohibited person. Id say it being Texas they have a good chance of the good ol boy judges or grand juries no billing them. Place like Michigan? Not so much.
What is the point of bringing guns to an act of civil disobedience like this? Either you're planning to use them, in which case nut up and fire at that MRAP, or you're not planning to use them, in which case leave them at home before someone gets hurt.