e-Social Experiment Uncovered

I've read a story of Slashdot.org titled "Mysterious Website Actually Social Experiment".


The codename was "eon8" and the entire story was revealed by its creator on July 1st. He maintained a website for a couple of months conducting a social experiment. Through the absence of information he tried to make conclusions about human behavior.

In detail, he posted incomplete and quite vague information that left a lot to the imagination. That's the key-word if you ask me. Also, he (or people affected by the experiment) made references to this website in various webforums. As a result a legend was born. Theories came to light every day. Everybody had a speculation of his own about this "eon8".

All the usual scenarios were deployed: Allien Invasion/Domination/Covert Infiltration, Government Conspiracy, World Wide Covert Organisation/Secret Alliance, The End of the World and many more. The majority of them ended with planet earth and its people being killed or enslaved or somehow harmed.

Of course none of the above was verified since under the mysterious bits and pieces of information there was nothing but an empty shell. A shell filled with fictions of their imagination.

So on July 1st Mr. Chris from Florida (age 23) went public with the results of his experiment stating that he is disappointed because most people's first reaction was to think of something terrible or harmful.

Personally I wouldn't be disappointed. Such behavior must be expected to a degree. No, I am not a pessimist (that's why I said "to a degree"). There's a problem with mankind. We don't know where we come from. We don't know were we are going. Some think they know or want to think they know just to keep their minds calm. So at the brink of the unknown we come up with the worst thing that can happen to us just to be prepared (at least mentally). For example if you are in a dark room and are afraid of spiders, you will start thinking of spiders and not to see one even if it's dark and you can't see anything! Other people fear that someone is hidden in that room and will grab them or that some animal or insect will attack them or ...
So, in the absence of information our mind prepares us for the worst. It is a hard-wired survival technique. It is fear. Only fools don't fear. So I am sorry Mr. Chris if my social behavior disappoints you but I'd rather fear for my life and in the end discover a hoax than make a wishlist and instead endanger my integrity. Lessons of Life 101.