Alternative Knowledge

[Jack]

A bit of news, not overtly horrible for once.

The Saudi Arabian government has threatened to drop all of their dollar reserves if a certain US bill came into law, which would allow bereaved families of the 9/11 attacks to sue saudi officials for their involvement and support in the attacks. Obama vetoed the bill, but since it's so close to an election, no congressional lawmaker apparently wants to be seen as being soft on terrorism, and the bill became law yesterday.

Dollar Reigns Supreme as Saudi Threat to Unload Is Deemed Hollow

Congress hands Obama first veto override

EDIT: Though I wouldn't pop the cork on the champagne just yet, because while their share is relatively small, I believe the dollar could be sunk, if the attackers had help from the inside, as they did on 9/11.

[Danvzare]

which would allow bereaved families of the 9/11 attacks to sue saudi officials for their involvement and support in the attacks.

Just... how?
What?
You can't just sue government officials in another country!

That would be like the Jewish suing Germany over World War 2.

America has a real fascination with suing everyone, don't they?

[Jack]

Well the district court of Chicago can arrest Ukrainian citizens in Poland and seize their bank accounts for copyright violation, so all bets are off apparently.

Incidentally that domain seizure was the first shot in an all-out war against torrenting and streaming, which is still raging today and has claimed many victims, the most recent being several youtube download sites. Borders and laws of sovereign nations don't matter any more. TTP/TTIP was delayed and no one told them.

[Blondbraid]

which would allow bereaved families of the 9/11 attacks to sue saudi officials for their involvement and support in the attacks.

Just... how?
What?
You can't just sue government officials in another country!

That would be like the Jewish suing Germany over World War 2.

America has a real fascination with suing everyone, don't they?

Haven't they heard that saying about rocks and glass houses?
Imagine if other countries would sue American Government for well, pretty much any of the wars they've been involved with the last decades, or american companies for ruining local businesses and unions.

And the whole war against piracy just feels so wrong, especially since it's screwed things up for so many people who haven't even broken any laws, and many anti-piracy measures in movies and video games have been either laughably ineffektive at best, or even taken away the product the consumer already paid for at worst.

[Mandle]

I guess this is one of the reasons why triple-A game companies are focused so much on multiplayer games, with a lame single-player campaign mode tacked on (or not):

You can't play the game unless logged in with a unique account.

[Blondbraid]

I guess this is one of the reasons why triple-A game companies are focused so much on multiplayer games, with a lame single-player campaign mode tacked on (or not):

You can't play the game unless logged in with a unique account.

Yes, I think Diablo 3 and Sim City was the worst offenders in that regard, since they needed constant internet connection for a Singel-player game. You have to be logged in in order to play alone, and you can't play if their servers break down.
Are they actively trying to make players just give up and pirate the games instead just to avoid dealing with all anti-piracy stuff?

[Mandle]

I guess this is one of the reasons why triple-A game companies are focused so much on multiplayer games, with a lame single-player campaign mode tacked on (or not):

You can't play the game unless logged in with a unique account.

Yes, I think Diablo 3 and Sim City was the worst offenders in that regard, since they needed constant internet connection for a Singel-player game. You have to be logged in in order to play alone, and you can't play if their servers break down.

It is a solution to the problem of piracy though: When it took a multi-million dollar budget to produce your game, and then it shows up for free 2 days after release on bitstream, how are you gonna feel?

Movies have the same problem, but at least they have the advantage that, if you want the full experience, then you have to go to the big-screen/Imax/3D/THX-sound/etc theater, but with games you can run them on any size/power system you like one you have the file...

Maybe they are smart? Afterall: if the game companies collapse because of piracy, then us gamers also lose out...

Or we just play indie games: Not a bad alternative either...

[Jack]

When it took a multi-million dollar budget to produce your game, and then it shows up for free 2 days after release on bitstream, how are you gonna feel?

I don't know what it feels like to see my game being offered for free after I paid my testers slave wages and made 300% profit on it. I only know what it feels like to pay $60 for a game that I will never truly own, and will stop working when they switch off its DRM servers.

But poor EA. Multi billion dollar empires built on mediocre products protected by franchise deals have such a hard time.

[Danvzare]

It is a solution to the problem of piracy though: When it took a multi-million dollar budget to produce your game, and then it shows up for free 2 days after release on bitstream, how are you gonna feel?

Movies have the same problem, but at least they have the advantage that, if you want the full experience, then you have to go to the big-screen/Imax/3D/THX-sound/etc theater, but with games you can run them on any size/power system you like one you have the file...

Maybe they are smart? Afterall: if the game companies collapse because of piracy, then us gamers also lose out...

Or we just play indie games: Not a bad alternative either...

Yes it is a solution, and as far as I can tell, one of the most effective ones so far.

But think of this for a second. Most games are cracked within a week, and are surprisingly easy to illegally download. As a matter of fact, piracy is easier than ever before.
Yet the game industry is doing better than it has ever done before. Not only that but GOG sells games with no DRM, practically allowing people to put the game on a flashdrive and install it onto all of the computers they find, and yet, GOG is doing brilliantly and expanding very quickly.

In short, all of these attempts to stops pirates, has not only done nothing to stop pirates, but has also been a waste of time to begin with since piracy clearly doesn't affect sales much. In short, someone who pirates your game, probably wasn't going to buy it anyway. Perhaps because they don't have enough money to waste on things like that. Who knows.

I'm not saying we should do away with all DRM (simply needing a disc in seems to work well and not annoy anyone), but clearly there's no need to go crazy on it either.

[Mandle]

I just found this amazing parody of how a convincing and yet insane conspiracy theory can be put together quite solidly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1ULjJ3EqyY

The maker of the video has even admitted that it was intended as a parody, and yet people still believe in it.

[Mandle]

No comments yet on this video?

I found it really interesting how the narrator speaks in a monotonic voice the entire time, while the rhythmic music plays, and repeats simple (but ridiculous) suggestions over and over and OVER AND OVER "The pines are the towers...The towers are the pines...The pines are the towers"

As a licensed hypnotherapist I can recognize these exact methods for implanting suggestions in a patient, and I can also spot the same methods being used in almost every other conspiracy video I have seen, including Dr. Judy Wood's:

A few powerful points that make people feel a sense of wonder at the overall concept of the conspiracy, punctuated inbetween by a hypnotic repetition of simple sentences pushing those points OVER AND OVER with a rhythmic background soundtrack playing much like a metronome in classical hypnosis.

These videos are simple hypnotic suggestion theory.

[Cassiebsg]

Well, I had a good laugh at one of the comments to the video... and so did the video author, but the guy didn't get the joke.

Always wondered if I'm hypnotic susceptible. Any way to figure that out?
I've always assumed am not, as I've been in some courses where the teacher used such techniques to the get student to imagine they were some place else... and I was "uhm... I don't see it... I don't feel anything different... the others seem to be off in a journey that I'm missing..."

[Crimson Wizard]

Speaking of foreshadowing, this is a pretty good one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe58Lq8puQ8

[Jack]

These videos are simple hypnotic suggestion theory.

What do you think is the motive?

[Danvzare]

What do you think is the motive?

If I had to take a guess, to make people agree with them.
Never underestimate a person's desire for other people to share their opinion. Why do you think so many people try to push their opinions on others, going so far as to rant and rave on forums.
Even I'm wanting someone to agree with my opinion on this matter!

[cat]

@Mandle: Just watched it, and the video is at least as hilarious as the comments below it. I almost fell off my chair when the monolith appeared (I saw Odyssey for the first time a few weeks ago at a Kubrick retrospective at a local cinema).

[Jack]

If I had to take a guess, to make people agree with them.

How did all/almost all of them end up using hypnotic suggestion though, following Mandle's theory?

[Scavenger]

How did all/almost all of them end up using hypnotic suggestion though, following Mandle's theory?

Because that sort of psychological technique isn't black magic locked in a tome where you need divine inspiration to translate the ancient runes. It's pretty elementary, you can learn it in actual books. There are books on how cults work as well that's similar - affirmation and repetition and easing people into that shit with stuff they have to agree with and then connecting lines without giving them time to really think and introspect about what's going on.

They all use it because it generally works on people. That's like asking "Why are all these films shot using cameras", or "why is all this bread baked with flour". Because it works. Pft, next you'll be asking why fortune tellers use cold reading or why magicians use sleight of hand.

I was reading a book on different kinds of cults earlier - it was talking about how one cult leader attended seminars by another cult leader, and based their own cult's structure on how they did theirs. It's a formula that works and makes money, so people use it. And generally, you only hear about the people who are even a little bit successful at their craft. Conspiracy theories are a dime a dozen, after all. But it takes skill and talent to craft bullhockey into a stream of consciousness rollercoaster that manipulates people's feelings.

[Jack]

So as you point out there are many techniques which are similar, yet what is described here is one very specific technique, characterised by three distinct features, used in "almost every" video concerning conspiracies which Mandle has encountered.

[Mandle]

So as you point out there are many techniques which are similar, yet what is described here is one very specific technique, characterised by three distinct features, used in "almost every" video concerning conspiracies which Mandle has encountered.

"Specific technique": Not really that specific. But yes, I did use one specific name for it. Call it what you will: There are many synonyms for "hypnotic suggestion", but they all pretty much boil down to the same:

"Three distinct features": Basic hypnosis is, in theory, only really three or four easy techniques. Anybody can do them. If somebody read a single A4 page called "How To Hypnotize" and followed the steps, they could almost certainly hypnotize a person on the first try. Hell, we did as students practicing on each other, and I couldn't believe such seemingly simple bullshit was working on me the first time I went under. Of course, the subject should be in a comfortable position, usually seated (if prone they might just fall asleep instead), and in an environment where the therapist's voice and rhythmic effects (music, metronome, etc) are mostly all they can hear. Does this not exactly describe a subject watching a video on Youtube with their headphones on?

""almost every" video concerning conspiracies which Mandle has encountered.": Maybe I should have said all the "compelling" ones. The ones that aren't at least compelling enough to be entertaining I would turn off after about 30 seconds and retain no memory of them.

And before you mentioned motive: Why, money of course my dear fellow! Or power over a group of believers! Or to become famous! Or, more likely, all three!

Or: In the case of this parody video: To educate people about the techniques to beware of when somebody turns an insane theory (with three or four compelling points of coincidence like the BTTF/911 parody) into a presentation that has the power to convince through hypnotic/subliminal/subconcious (whatever you want to call it) manipulation.