The Wayward Axolotl

I first started making YouTube videos in the spring of 2013. Somehow I found this little corner of the internet where people were having interesting philosophical and political discussions and debates, and I wanted to be part of it. In those days YouTube was a lot of fun because it was very anarchic and creative. Any DIY platform or movement unleashes a lot of pent-up creativity, before it becomes smothered by band-waggoners. In 2013 YouTube was where real issues were being discussed in an open forum, with no filters. As with any open forum, there was a lot of trolling and general stupidity, but even that had its charm. People were having fun. Of course, it couldn't last. Whenever nerds are having fun normies will crash the party and ruin it. Most people don't think of YouTube as a social network. They think of it as a content delivery service. It is a content delivery service, and many people never use it as anything else. The dividing line is when you start commenting, espe

I have always been fascinated by the human capacity for self-deception. When I was a child, I became aware that people are deluded on a massive scale. They are not just deluded, however. They passionately defend their delusions against correction. To some extent, this is just because people are liars. Society creates an environment in which deception is often useful. But many delusions cannot be explained as an attempt to deceive others. Religion is a good example. It is obviously false. It wouldn’t fool anyone, unless they wanted to be fooled. Our biggest deceptions are self-deceptions. This raises two questions: Why do we deceive ourselves? How can we deceive ourselves? In Social Delusions , I explained how social feedback can create mass delusions. In a social delusion, most people believe X because most people believe X. The inductive basis for the belief is just the belief itself. Social delusions are collective self-deception. People also deceive themse