Tiktok Theorist slop

[LisaFaginDavis]

I responded to the TikTok over on Bluesky:
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[medievalmaxxer]

Huge thank you to Koen G for your brilliant video on this (and my feature, lol) (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.). It's heavily appreciated!!! It's exactly what I was looking for

[pjburkshire]

Sometimes car keys go missing.  You never find them so long as you keep looking in the same places where they are not.  There's no such thing as bad publicity?  Maybe all the TikTok silliness will spark an interest in a new generation with some new ideas.  Christopher Columbus wasn't looking for America but the world was never the same afterwards.

[bi3mw]

I believe that an absurd theory like this (“moonwater” + menstrual blood = plant growth) should be called what it is: nonsense. Aside from the bacteria generated in the water, the “examples” (some of which were likely generated by AI) aren’t helpful either. The only thing this TikTok video really reveals is a certain worldview steeped in misandry. It’s not about contributing to VMS research at all. The manuscript is merely a vehicle for promoting a completely bizarre conspiracy theory. We can only hope that this nonsense fades from the spotlight just as quickly as it appeared, so that interested Voynich researchers don’t waste their time on it.

[rikforto]

The audience for this sort of thing are people who will not spot this kind of thing until they are in too deep to emotionally disengage. There are usually asks for money, sometimes for a service, sometimes called "mutual aid", but at any rate it's about developing an audience who will defend the in-group so that they can ask for money. It targets people who are vulnerable and seeking community, which describes a lot of women with (often fundamentally justified!) rage at misogyny and patriarchy

I've seen conflicting judgments from people who research these kinds of groups how consciously the people at the heart of it are building that ecosystem, but that is the shape of things. The easily spotted AI slop and extremist views are features, not bugs. We probably won't see a lot of people come over from inside these circles, but im told by a friend they got a YouTube recommendation about it so it's broken containment

[medievalmaxxer]

There's no such thing as bad publicity?  Maybe all the TikTok silliness will spark an interest in a new generation with some new ideas.

 
Yes, and, there's a real risk that this leaves misinformation in people's minds even after it goes away. So, good and bad consequences to this whole fiasco.

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The audience for this sort of thing are people who will not spot this kind of thing until they are in too deep to emotionally disengage. There are usually asks for money, sometimes for a service, sometimes called "mutual aid", but at any rate it's about developing an audience who will defend the in-group so that they can ask for money. It targets people who are vulnerable and seeking community, which describes a lot of women with (often fundamentally justified!) rage at misogyny and patriarchy

I've seen conflicting judgments from people who research these kinds of groups how consciously the people at the heart of it are building that ecosystem, but that is the shape of things. The easily spotted AI slop and extremist views are features, not bugs. We probably won't see a lot of people come over from inside these circles, but im told by a friend they got a YouTube recommendation about it so it's broken containment

Yes! I am also upset that this is giving many misogynists fuel to discourage female participation in academic discourse! Conspiracy theorists exist in both sexes, but unfortunately stuff like this is only holding the microscope, as it were, over women.

[pjburkshire]

I am also upset that this is giving many misogynists fuel to discourage female participation in academic discourse! 

The Voynich Manuscript taint has existed for decades.  Many legitimate researchers see it as a career ending association.  I think this current TikTok kerfuffle is just another drop in the ocean.

[joben]

Great video Koen, and thanks for giving credit to the many women who have researched the VMS and still are. It is a shame that it even needs to be pointed out, but in this context it was definitely a good call.

I think the TikTok theorist phenomenon is rather ridiculous. These people jump to conclusions without doing even the most basic research. Sadly, it can't really be ignored because they reach so many viewers.

[Jacob Carolus]

I agree

Great video Koen

I agree commend Koen too... The many moon symbols in the VM will always and eventually have attracted lunacy.

Hallucination does not begin to describe it.

[pjburkshire]

Sadly, it can't really be ignored because they reach so many viewers.

Are you suggesting that some additional action should be taken?