Debunking takes way more time than spreading: how is that effect called again? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: VinzC
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2021, 10:55:24 am
content: Hi all.I remember Dave Jones and other fellows who debunked disinformation used to call that "situation" by a name but I don't remember it. The effect in question is about the amount of energy and time it takes to debunk fake information compared to spreading it. I just can't get my fingers on the video Dave talks about it, unfortunately.Does that ring a bell, anyone?Thanks in advance.

author: Circlotron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2021, 12:04:17 pm
content: Increasing entropy is easy. Reducing entropy is hard.So, something like Second Law of Thermodynamics?

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2021, 01:49:12 pm
content: In physics classes, a typical illustration of entropy is opening a sealed bottle of gas: the gas molecules quickly spread out over the volume of the room and it requires quite a bit of energy to get them back into the bottle.

author: newbrain
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2021, 07:05:01 pm
content: It's called "La teoria della montagna di merda" in Italian (by Uriel Fanelli), "Theory of the mountain of shit" fromhere.Unfortunately, the original blog post is not accessible any longer, and Google Translate does not seem able to give me a translated link.You can still copy & paste the text piecemeal in GT, I really recommend it, it's worth the effort.

author: VinzC
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2021, 05:56:07 pm
content: Thanks to all for your hints however this is not the term I was looking for — as I am pretty sure I have heard it. It's in fact in the form of a name, e.g. "The XXXX effect". I had thought it would bethe Chomsky effectbut that's not the right name.Any idea?

author: KE5FX
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2021, 06:04:14 pm
content: The cool thing is, you can make up any term you want for the effect, and everybody else will have to prove that'snotwhat it's called."A lie can travel around the world 20 times before the truth makes it out past the firewall. Is that awesome, or what?" - Joseph Goebbels

author: VinzC
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2021, 10:28:15 pm
content: Quote from: KE5FX on October 11, 2021, 06:04:14 pmI heard that term pronounced [at least] by Dave and a French Youtuber as well, so...Well, thanks for not helping.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2021, 10:57:22 pm
content: Brandolini's law, also known as the bullshit asymmetry principle.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandolini's_law

author: newbrain
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 12, 2021, 02:37:07 pm
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on October 11, 2021, 10:57:22 pmBrandolini only came out with this more than 3 years after Uriel Fanelli (and he acknowledged as much in his tweet).Nobody I know or read uses "Brandolini's law" for "la teoria della montagna di merda" - in Italy, at least.I found another copy of the original post, andgoogle can translate it.Though it makes some specific Italian references (politicians, TV "personalities", free energy charlatans), I find this better than the rewrite I linked above.Fanelli was sometimes over the top*, but he very often had quite good insights.*E.g. his original blog usually sported some (completely out of context) extreme/disgusting porn pictures in the posts.According to him, they were there as a deterrent for people so shallow to just stop at those or so stupid not to know how to block them.