Anti-vaxx movement seems to be a symptom of a deeper problem - I see it as a combination of people being increasingly unable to comprehend the world around them and growing mistrust toward the authorities.
The second one is perfectly understandable - politicians cheat us all the time. Journalists lie in every other sentence. Big companies consistently spew bullshit. A lot of small companies are run by fraudsters. The fundamental trust of society toward its structures is broken. It's easy to assume that politicians and businessmen try to push things for profit and not for the social benefit.
That itself is not enough for a movement like anti-vaxxers though. I'm pro-vax, but not because I trust the government or pharmaceutical companies. There's definitely a lot of fraud, bribery and fudging results there. But the general scientific idea is sound, and it adds up to other things.
It's the kind of feeling I believe big part of population doesn't have. That things add up. I believe in mainstream science because it's coherent, logical and agrees nicely with observable reality. I understand some genetics, know enough maths to have a feel for exponential growth, etc. But many people don't really understand anything about the world (yay education!), it must seem like a black box for them. Some things happen because they happen. When you eat dirt you get sick, etc.
Along with anti-vaxxers, I often talk with anti-GMO and anti-nuclear people. The situation is always the same - they don't trust the autorities and they don't understand a thing about the topic domain. "Nuclear energy" is the scary thing. Chernobyl. Soviet lies. Fukushima. Japanese lies. It's hard to make them do the math and understand that this is our only viable option for now. They don't trust governments and they don't have enough knowledge to evaluate the topic themselves - so they don't trust the solution.
I'm afraid that as a civilization, we're going to really hurt ourselves beacuse of trust issues. That's why in my books, lying to people is one of the biggest sins. It's literally destroying humanity's ability to work together.
The second one is perfectly understandable - politicians cheat us all the time. Journalists lie in every other sentence. Big companies consistently spew bullshit. A lot of small companies are run by fraudsters. The fundamental trust of society toward its structures is broken. It's easy to assume that politicians and businessmen try to push things for profit and not for the social benefit.
That itself is not enough for a movement like anti-vaxxers though. I'm pro-vax, but not because I trust the government or pharmaceutical companies. There's definitely a lot of fraud, bribery and fudging results there. But the general scientific idea is sound, and it adds up to other things.
It's the kind of feeling I believe big part of population doesn't have. That things add up. I believe in mainstream science because it's coherent, logical and agrees nicely with observable reality. I understand some genetics, know enough maths to have a feel for exponential growth, etc. But many people don't really understand anything about the world (yay education!), it must seem like a black box for them. Some things happen because they happen. When you eat dirt you get sick, etc.
Along with anti-vaxxers, I often talk with anti-GMO and anti-nuclear people. The situation is always the same - they don't trust the autorities and they don't understand a thing about the topic domain. "Nuclear energy" is the scary thing. Chernobyl. Soviet lies. Fukushima. Japanese lies. It's hard to make them do the math and understand that this is our only viable option for now. They don't trust governments and they don't have enough knowledge to evaluate the topic themselves - so they don't trust the solution.
I'm afraid that as a civilization, we're going to really hurt ourselves beacuse of trust issues. That's why in my books, lying to people is one of the biggest sins. It's literally destroying humanity's ability to work together.