We Just Got More Evidence That Long COVID Is a Brain Injury
The exact nature of long COVID is still coming to light, but we just got some of the best evidence yet that this debilitating condition stems from a brain injury.
Using high-resolution scanners, researchers at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford have shown microscopic, structural abnormalities in the brainstems of those recovering from COVID-19.
Signs of brain inflammation were present up to 18 months after first contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
"We show that the brainstem is a site of vulnerability to long-term effects of COVID-19, with persistent changes evident in the months after hospitalization," the authors of the study conclude.
https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awae215
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These people are addicted to this feeling that they have discovered some secret that destroys conventional wisdom and sheds a whole new light on everything. They are addicted to this feeling that they’ve found a big lie everyone’s swallowed and they’re going to spit it out.
Every part of their worldview has to have that quality or they can’t hold onto it with their brains. There’s a great deal of straightforward, plain-as-day information that’s totally missing from their worldview because it doesn’t contain the drug their brain is addicted to.
My theory is that the type of person who falls for conspiracy nonsense is the same type of person who also succumbs to solipsism. They have a core belief that they are the protagonist of their own story, and their story can't be plain, humdrum, or boring like their daily lives had been up until the moment they "uncovered" the grand plot to deceive the world. Acknowledgement of the fact that they are not special or somehow inherently different from any other individual is psychic death, so they retreat into safe spaces and echo chambers that validate them, which make them easy targets for pseudoscience and quasi-religious beliefs.
Conspiracy allows them to indulge in the fantasy of grandiosity, while also introducing them to a community of like-minded people who will welcome them and their beliefs, and never challenge them. That makes it all the more difficult for them to break out of the spell, even when presented evidence that runs contrary to what they believe.
I wonder if you're on to something there. What if they do get a hit of dopamine every time they think they're being clever even though they're completely wrong, and so they deliberately lean towards all the crazy that makes them think they're being clever just for the dopamine? That would explain a lot about the MAGA crowd, as they are actually physically addicted to the crazy in that case,
"The loudest one in the room is the weakest one in the room." — Frank Lucas Many dumb people I've met simply get off by hearing themselves talk. They 100% get a dopamine hit every time the make a "point".
Yes and there is one other aspect. When they get into this conspiracy shit, there is a whole community of people ready to welcome them. They are congratulated for seeing the light and joining the movement. This fulfills a social need for a lot of these people, who are lonely or in some cases estranged from family.
This process of feeling like you’ve drawn back the curtain on life, and, in the same stroke found “your people” is incredibly exhilarating to them. It’s like a whole new day in their lives. And THAT’S why they’ll defend their crap beliefs to the death. Because giving them up means going back to the humdrum world where they are just a nobody again.
There's also a large community of conspiracy haters ready to welcome anyone who believes anything an authority figure says. They are congratulated for seeing the light and joining the movement. This fulfills a social need for ... etc.
Is there? I don’t know of anyone who gathers together to bad mouth conspiracy theorists
There are many in this thread. I replied to one.
People who casually dismiss conspiracy theories are exactly as bad as those who unquestioningly believe them.
Did you see someone whose social life is built around dismissing conspiracy believers or did you just reply to someone who rejects conspiracy thinking? I suspect it’s the latter.
The kind of person that latches onto one detail in an argument and doesn't let go. Especially when it has nothing to do with the disagreement. You know the type.