What People Are Getting Wrong This Week: These Five Niche Conspiracy Theories
Before we begin, check out this tweet from US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene:
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Although Greene herself spreads a lot of conspiracy theories , she is not wrong here: many Americans believe in absolute nonsense. But we all believe in different levels of nonsense. To someone like Greene, Jewish space lasers and government control of hurricanes are not conspiracy theories, but “Donald Trump is a shape-shifting lizard ” is a conspiracy theory.
When you get deeper into any conspiracy, you get more specific theories that fewer people believe, like “We know how to control the weather, but we don’t” or “We were on the moon, but we faked the photos.” ” Conspiracy theories like Spotify playlists and TikTok channels are becoming increasingly personalized.
In the near future, each person will believe in his own conspiracy theory, the evidence and arguments of which are automatically created by artificial intelligence, taking into account individual biases, and submitted to search engines and social networks. Or maybe it’s just my personal conspiracy theory.
To get a glimpse into this possible future, I dug up a few micro-conspiracy theories, nonsense that very few people believe – perhaps just one person.
Computer chips are a prison for demons
This conspiracy theory claims that our computers are filled with real demons . It all starts with Solomon . Solomon, as stated in the Bible, built the First Temple in Jerusalem. In the Testament of Solomon , an apocryphal text attributed to him, Solomon imprisons various demons using mystical symbols. These symbols (seals of Solomon) ensure that demons can never show themselves to us or make themselves known. They also look a bit like circuit boards, leading to the belief that our computer chips are inhabited by demons, and although they can never interact with us directly, they influence us through the Internet.
Runescape players control real people in New York
Runescape is an MMORPG that people have been playing since 2001. This theory began with the observation that the virtual world of Runescape vaguely resembles New York City – a series of districts with a central market. This has led (somehow) to the theory that the government is conducting a massive mind control experiment in which unsuspecting, unmanned New Yorkers are literally controlled by Runescape players. As with the best conspiracy theories, the only way to learn more about this is to click on a YouTube video of a guy with a beard talking to his camera .
King Charles is a vampire
Some believe that Charles, the current King of England, is a vampire. Here’s the evidence: He’s related to Vlad the Impaler , the 15th-century Romanian warlord who inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and the royal family has a genetic blood disorder. This is true, but it’s enough for me.
Queen Elizabeth was a cannibal
Another British royal family conspiracy theory claims that Queen Elizabeth was a cannibal. This was first proposed by (allegedly) “Hubert Humdinger”, an “exiled cultural philosopher” who “exists” because you can buy his book on Amazon . In any case, in an article supposedly published in 1973, Humdinger allegedly wrote about the then queen: “She must eat human flesh to be so cheerful. Human muscles contain a huge amount of spiritual energy.” Later, a worker repairing the royal freezer allegedly said he found all sorts of human parts in the deep freezer. I can’t find any real evidence of any of this, for what it’s worth.
Doveland, Wisconsin: a town that doesn’t exist
Many Internet users say they remember visiting the small town of Doveland, Wisconsin , but in reality the town is not there. He supposedly disappeared at some point in the 1990s and left behind no historical records, maps or even written accounts of the time. However, there is a photograph supposedly taken in the city.
When the first reports of Doveland surfaced, people began searching for him on Google and, to their surprise, found shirts , mugs , hats and other items for sale from Doveland, Wisconsin. Does the existence of Doveland merchandise prove that the city once existed and sold city goods? No, it just goes to show that AI will continue to create products if enough of us start looking for them.