Comments on: Conspiracy Science

By: mindme

mindme — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:05:58 +0000

||Twenty years ago, one had to make an effort to believe in woo, as the only sources were books and the occasional mimeographed newsletter with a circulation of 86.

You are apparently too young to remember the seventies. If you think nonsense is endemic now, this is nothing compared to that decade.||

Agreed. One had to make no effort. We had grocery store magazines, shows like In Search Of and That’s Incredible. Amazingly popular books like Chariot of the Gods. What has changed is critical thinking information was actually what you had to make an effort to find. You had to descend into the bowels of your university library to discover Skeptical Inquirer and something called the Skeptics Movement. You had to take a course on logic to discover the tools of logical thinking. We had no snopes.com.

By: Pixy Misa

Pixy Misa — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 08:04:43 +0000

Twenty years ago, one had to make an effort to believe in woo, as the only sources were books and the occasional mimeographed newsletter with a circulation of 86.

You are apparently too young to remember the seventies. If you think nonsense is endemic now, this is nothing compared to that decade.

By: BillyJoe7

BillyJoe7 — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 04:10:48 +0000

“Gullible versus paranoid. There’s a balance there.”

That’s the point Michael Shermer makes in terms of type 1 and type 2 errors.

By: HHC

HHC — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 04:09:08 +0000

The authors of the conspiracy pdf discuss briefly the Tuskeegee syphillis study in the South. There is no doubt that the KKK were active in the U.S. during this period and impacted the civil liberties of all minority groups. But the study of black syphillitic patients was extended beyond the original intention of 6 months. The patients received monitoring of their lifestyle and free meals. The doctors did not interfere beyond providing nutrition. This laissez-faire attitude was also common in the Midwest. Would you tell the Midwest’s Klansmen to stop having children out of wedlock or not have sex when they were infected with syphillis? Their children were simply dropped off at the state hospitals. The quality of that care is documented by our justice system.

By: zoe237

zoe237 — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 02:43:21 +0000

Oops, should have used carrots. Sorry.

By: zoe237

zoe237 — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 02:00:09 +0000

Speaking of Catholics, was the shuffling of pedophile priests from parish to parish a conspiracy amongst the higher ups? How about wmds in Iraq, or 9-11 is connected to Saddam Huisein? Curious.

Or is that an example of a conspiracy theorem?>

In addition to this final recommendation:

[i] {“It may also prove useful to distinguish between beliefs that reflect ‘political paranoia’ in the traditional sense, and political realism. In doing so, it will be important for scholars to drop the assumption that all conspiracy theories are equally unbelievable. “[/i]

the authors also note that

[i]“The fact that some conspiracy theories (such as US Department of Defence plans to stimulate acts of terrorism and blame them on Cuba) have turned out to be true certainly bears out this point. “[/i]

It seems to me that along with a ton of people who are paranoid, they are just as many who trust everything they see on tv, or whatever. Gullible versus paranoid. There’s a balance there.

By: Hypatias Daughter

Hypatias Daughter — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:53:37 +0000

“…..or ambiguous and unsatisfying information about big events. The authors emphasize that the public often has a lack of access to adequate information to explain historical events (a situational factor).”
ebohlman “If they don’t know much about a subject, they take that as evidence that knowledge of the subject is being suppressed, not that they haven’t done the work to acquire that knowledge. ” A variation of the Dunning-Kruger Effect

Twenty years ago, one had to make an effort to believe in woo, as the only sources were books and the occasional mimeographed newsletter with a circulation of 86. Now the internet spreads woo faster than than a lizards tongue.
Claiming this is due to scientific ignorance misses the fact that the same internet that feeds them the woo has tons of real science these people are choosing to ignore. And more worrisome, because science denies them their woo, they also dismiss science as a procedure to find the truth.
Why there is a subset of people who aren’t just ignorant (but are willing to learn), but embrace their ignorance over science is a bigger question.

By: banyan

banyan — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:31:49 +0000

@scottshan It was a joke, friend. It’s hard to get across irony in this silent black and white text. You’re in the clear!

By: hippiehunter

hippiehunter — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:28:11 +0000

Generally I find conspiracy theorists funny , I live near Nimbin in Australia ( sister city of Amsterdam ! ) where every cloud is a chemtrail and the CIA are omniscient.

In this part of the world I have found myself the only person in a room that believes man actually landed on the moon and that 9/11 was the act of a group of fundamentalist muslim mass murderers.

The one conspiracy theory that angers me though is the ‘ Big Pharma ‘ nonsense that antivaxers prattle on about …..’ it is a conspiracy theory with a body count’. Not my line but true.

I think in this case it is often a contrived conspiracy theory in that it is promoted by alt. med. practitioners as a diversion from thier own lack of efficacy.

By: Shelley

Shelley — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:25:20 +0000

I suspect that there’s a certain amount of ego involved as well.

It has to be fairly self-bolstering to be under the impression that you’re one of the few who really knows/understands ‘the truth’; that the “supposed experts” (how many times have you heard that phrase?) either know nothing, are entirely mistaken, or they’re in on it.