Watching friends and family fall prey to various pseudoscientific ideas and from there delving deeper into conspiracy theory territory is such a disheartening experience.

For one, once they start going down that rabbit hole, they completely stop listening to reason. Attempts to talk about their newfound beliefs, be it astrology, crystals, frequencies of the universe, or whatever, are at best met with the phrase "well, if you say so" followed by total shutdown. At worst, they start arguing that there's "two sides to everything" and that "just because we don't have that much evidence, it doesn't mean it's not true". And from there, they follow an almost certain path towards various fringe conspiracy theories, one more ridiculous than the next.

What's worse, there seems to be some sort of pseudoscience for everyone. Even those with a decent background in STEM will find something that suits them. The newest craze seems to biohacking/neurohacking. People pumping themselves full of supplements, or getting "maps of their optimal brain frequencies" or using all sorts of gadgets to increase their quantity of REM or non-REM sleep and other equally ridiculous "self-optimizing" ideas.

It's draining just standing by and watching them become increasingly more divorced from reality, all the while feeling so utterly powerless. And not only feeling powerless because there's nothing to say to even open up the possibility of discussion, but also because you feel yourself slowly turning into the sort of "well, actually..." smartass no one wants to have around. Feeling powerless because you see in real time how you're losing people who were once closest to you unless you sacrifice your beliefs and pretend to live in the same made-up fantasy world as they do.

#neuroscience #rant #scicomm