i've seen this kinda stuff before, and its discouraging. Not that you're wrong, of course. The overwhelming evidence leaves no room for doubt if you're a rational person.

What bugs me, though, is the superiority, condescension, the tribal polarization that you guys love to embrace. It's absolutely intoxicating for a large portion of you, like you thrive on it, you need it, your personal identity is nourished by it.

That kind of nourishment doesn't do anybody any good, it offsets your "Societal Benefits" in a diminishing-return kinda way.

Conspiracy sickness is not (usually) a product of stupidity. It's a cognitive disfunction that's embedded in the whole human genepool. And speaking of natural selection, it's actually a mechanism of stone-age tribal survival, just like it's counterpart, blind faith in tribal authority, was also a survival mechanism, also written into the genepool.