When asked if he had any theories about why the error so enchanted people, Cailliau wrote “I don’t even have a hunch about the 404 #fascination. And frankly I don’t give a damn. The sort of #creativity that goes into 404 #response pages is fairly useless. The #mythology is probably due to the #irrationality, denial of #evidence, and preference for the fairy tale over reality that is quite common in the human species … These human traits were relatively innocent in the past, when individual #influence was small and #information spread slowly. Today, and in no small way due to the #existence of the net, these traits have gained a #power that is dangerous.” As examples, he cited the election of Donald #Trump, the deterioration of the #EU, meek political responses to gun #violence, and the proliferation of euphemism (“climate change”). Or the fascination could just be a dash of #humanity, an appreciation that the #internet is made by humans, and humans—especially on the internet—are often bored.