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Comment by phantom_oracle | Hacker News Reader

These articles don't address the critical aspect of WHY.

Why are these conspiracy theories about 5G being spread?

If the why involves geopolitics and economics, you just have to look at who has the most to lose from this, factoring in that China is now the cheapest option for this tech(not sure if they are the leaders, but certainly will be the cheapest with a state-funded subsidy).

HN being a critical thinking community, it is fair to postulate theories from an economic perspective. I don't think anybody will try to sell "long-life milk powder" during such discourse.

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I hate to say it, but we have entered a time where information has been not only successfully weaponized, but can also be easily spread throughout the entire population with stunning penetration results. Quick example, I have recently found out about Yulin celebrations. I have zero to no doubt that it happens to be a part of anti-Chinese propaganda ( what are the odds of guy like me finding out about a local custom in a Chinese province organically ), but I simply cannot help reacting emotionally to its content.

I am sure 5G is spreading like wildfire for similar reasons ( though admittedly, this one is kinda silly, when there are actual things to worry about ... like say Mnuchin suddenly being able to disburse billions of dollars with a friendly IG, but I digress ).

Indeed, the machine works so well that, as a US citizen, I have little confidence in being able to stay in this country in the long term. Doesn't matter if I speak out, nothing will stop it.

It is amusing that the typical "skeptics" and "critical thinkers" online never notice. Their skepticism consists of swallowing the narrative whole, then insisting that the conspiracy is real but twice as evil as reported.

>as a US citizen, I have little confidence in being able to stay in this country in the long term

You're likely in for a rude awakening if you expatriate. Things aren't perfect in the US but for someone in the middle class on a dev salary it's naive to think there are many places where you'd be substantially better off.

I didn't say I would be better off elsewhere, I said I wouldn't have a choice. And I don't make even 20% of a standard dev salary.

Pretty much everywhere else in the developed world you'll have a decent compensation and free universal healthcare. Depending on where you land, your kids will have free college tuition and you'll be able to retire without fear of some clever banker will destroy your pension fund.

> in the developed world

So what? No matter where I go, I'm still going to be ethnically Chinese. If the US expels people like me, I assume Europe, etc. will follow suit.

Why would we expel you? Most of us have very sane governments, that respect human rights and don't make decisions based in conspiracy theories

As I said, given how information flow works, when you do it you'll think you have an excellent reason. When the time comes, you'll be hearing about something like the Yulin celebrations every single day, and in a month you'll hate whoever you're supposed to. That is the standard playbook, and it hasn't failed once yet.

I am sorry you feel like that, and, as an immigrant myself (Brazilian born, with Hungarian heritage, living in Ireland), I hope our species learns to embrace our cultural diversity.

I'm often reminded that we are just a couple hundred thousand years of human on top of many millions of years of monkey, and that we should be patient with ourselves.

> we have entered a time where information has been not only successfully weaponized

Sorry, but this is an extraordinarily naive point of view.

The "fake news" meme is fake "news". Nothing new about it, just new players entering an old game.

I disagree almost completely. You are right about propaganda not being a new concept. You are wrong thinking the delivery system not being a game changer here. Comparatively speaking, I would compare it to radio or TV entering the scene.

edit: I almost think it is like comparing invention of wheel to today's cars.

Russia has a long history of spreading fake health news in the West. The Soviets spread fake stories about the origin of the AIDS epidemic during the cold war.

I'd like not to be able to say it, but the US is not innocent in that preactice - this is why South America has so many dictatorships in the 20th century.

When it comes to bots (especially of the Russian variety), there is evidence that there may not be a compelling motive other than to create divisive conversations.

Exactly. Weakening the opposition by confusing them.

In the US, with Trump, and in the UK, with Brexit, they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. They had also a lot of smaller victories in Eastern Europe.

They are being amplified by adversaries of a state where the rumors are targeted to divide and weaken that state. You actually have examples where people were indicted https://intelligence.house.gov/social-media-content/

The mainstream conspiracy theory seems to be "Because Russia wants to slow down the roll out to be able to 'catch up'".

Your version makes slightly more sense at least.

It's likely an opportunistic effort to spread chaos. Parties like Russia and China find propaganda value in pointing to disorder in the West, justifying their authoritarian or totalitarian rule.

Russia at least has form in trying to pour fuel on existing controversies or divisions in Western societies.

Sad to see this downvoted, that's exactly what it is.

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