• Th4tGuyII@fedia.io
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    1 day ago

    The problem with your regular conspiracy theorist is that the conspiracies they usually believe in are born of ignorance, and can be utterly dismantled with relatively little research.

    Why would a corrupt, tax-dodging billionaire who literally embezzeled from a children’s charity be willing to help anyone but himself?

    How could there be a pedo-ring hosted in the basement of a random pizza restaurant with no basement?

    From my experience at least, the conspiracies that turn out to be true are usually those where there is a concrete benefit to those involved, especially when it involves depravity.

    Who stands to benefit from suppression of the Earth being flat, and how do they benefit?

    Even to more “credible” conspiracies. If vaccines did cause Autism, and it was provable - why wouldn’t one of the big pharmaceuticals have ripped their competition to shreds by showing that and releasing their own that doesn’t? Do pharmaceutical giants not like kicking their competition out the market and securing more profit for themselves?

    • plyth@feddit.org
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      14 hours ago

      Do pharmaceutical giants not like kicking their competition out the market and securing more profit for themselves?

      Don’t car conpanies not like kicking their competition out the market and securing more profit for themselves by offering electric cars and solar cells in the 80ies?

      • Th4tGuyII@fedia.io
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        11 hours ago

        As @boonhet@sopuli.xyz said, it isn’t really the same scenario.

        There were EVs as early as the 19th century (wikipedia I know, but I’m not doing a deep dive for a forum comment) and they were used for various applications.

        So while there definitely was, and still is very much an anti-green economy conspiracy going on… that wasn’t the only factor supressing EVs from mass production and usage back then.

        Battery chemistry was inefficient - so a battery big enough to compete with IC engines even back then would’ve needed to be HUGE, making it both too unwieldy and expensive to justify putting into a car.

        Any battery you could actually fit into a reasonably sized car was still prohibitively expensive, and had nowhere near the mileage to compete with the day’s IC engines. So they just weren’t viable for the masses.

        And as Boon said, if nobody can make a profit making EVs for consuners, they simply won’t make them for consumers.

        It’s only with cheaper and more efficient battery chemistry, and a booming green economy thanks to consumer pressure, that they’re now starting to be able to make EVs that can compete with IC engines on both price and mileage - which is what consumers really care about.


        Which is to say, if there truly was a competition destroying profit to be made, somebody would’ve done it… Which is why so many car companies were even researching EVs to begin with.

      • boonhet@sopuli.xyz
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        12 hours ago

        Don’t car conpanies not like kicking their competition out the market and securing more profit for themselves by offering electric cars and solar cells in the 80ies?

        I mean EVs wouldn’t have made a profit at that time. Battery tech has been getting better and better over the last century and change, and batteries have been getting cheaper - but it’s STILL more expensive to build an EV than an ICE car. It’s getting better by the year though. Also with ICE cars, you get to sell more parts through the dealership system lol

          • boonhet@sopuli.xyz
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            11 hours ago

            Kinda have to have OK batteries to make the EV first. Otherwise you’re selling them at a loss.

    • spujb@lemmy.cafeOP
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      1 day ago

      me believing in adrenochrome, an imaginary chemical known only to pedophile lizard people: ✅✅✅✅✅

      me believing in CO2 and climate change known to everyone, their mom, and first discovered by billionaire execs: 😭🫵 😭🫵 😭🫵

    • davi@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 day ago

      Who stands to benefit from suppression of the Earth being flat, and how do they benefit?

      extend that to truly controversial and equally true topics of today; like north korea; and most will come to understand that they too have bought into conspiracy theories themselves.