Conspiracy theories vs. mindset.

[Torus34]

I'm a retired scientist. That professional lifetime, itself the result of a desire to become a chemist first felt at the age of 6, has defined my patterns of thought to a large degree. In other words, I tend to seek to rationally understand things through demonstrable fact as opposed to 'common sense'. This provides me with what may be a built-in resistance to conspiracy theories.

Take, for example, the flat earth theory. I live near the Atlantic coast of the US. I've watched ships go hull-down over the horizon. 'Nuf said.

Conspiracy theories, more often than not, are not rooted in demonstrable fact but, rather, in what some person or group of people have stated to be true. They're based in an acceptance of the authority of a person or group. If, for instance, you accept what well-known Democrats are saying, you are in danger of accepting falsities, Exchange Republicans or liberals or conservatives for Democrats and the same caveat applies.

Adopting a mindset of "Show me through solid evidence" can do much to keep junk from accumulating on the shelves of our minds.

Another useful addition to one's thinking toolkit is a good knowledge of, and ability to recognize, logical fallacies.

Regards, stay safe 'n well 'n remember the Big 5.

 

[MamboDervish]

Adopting a mindset of "Show me through solid evidence" can do much to keep junk from accumulating on the shelves of our minds.

Alas, would that it were so. The conspiracy minded simply choose not to believe the "solid evidence" is real.

 

[Torus34]

Alas, would that it were so. The conspiracy minded simply choose not to believe the "solid evidence" is real.

Hi, MamboDervish!

If I accept your statement as true, it leads to a question; Why do they do this? It's a question perhaps best answered by sociologists and psychiatrists.

Regards, stay safe 'n well 'n remember the Big 5.

 

[Mach]

Hi, MamboDervish!
If I accept your statement as true, it leads to a question; Why do they do this? It's a question perhaps best answered by sociologists and psychiatrists.
Regards, stay safe 'n well 'n remember the Big 5.

One reason that still surprises me is that some do it for attention(!) Imagine choosing falsity based on wanting attention...boggles the mind!
Some have an entire worldview (Dems bad, Republicans good), and they simply filter everything through it. Evidence becomes irrelevant if it doesn't match up with that. (brainwashed by propaganda/culture)
Some are just believers in fiction, some have strong mythological beliefs and having a few more non-evidence based beliefs is no big deal to them.
Some act this way just to push their party's agenda..they know better, they just choose to ignore it for political points.

I'm sure there are more, that's just the ones I am use to seeing.

 

[Torus34]

One reason that still surprises me is that some do it for attention(!) Imagine choosing falsity based on wanting attention...boggles the mind!
Some have an entire worldview (Dems bad, Republicans good), and they simply filter everything through it. Evidence becomes irrelevant if it doesn't match up with that. (brainwashed by propaganda/culture)
Some are just believers in fiction, some have strong mythological beliefs and having a few more non-evidence based beliefs is no big deal to them.
Some act this way just to push their party's agenda..they know better, they just choose to ignore it for political points.

I'm sure there are more, that's just the ones I am use to seeing.

Hi, Mach!

Replying only to your first two sentences bolded above, we can see some prime examples among our current political figures.

Regards, stay safe 'n well.

 

[Brochacholomigo]

Not exactly engaging with the OP, but on the subject of conspiracy theories, my favorite one is that the term itself was only coined to slander people who thought that JFK was killed by the American state itself.

 

[noonereal]

Hi, MamboDervish!

If I accept your statement as true, it leads to a question; Why do they do this? It's a question perhaps best answered by sociologists and psychiatrists.

Regards, stay safe 'n well 'n remember the Big 5.

Yes, this is explained in psycology.

 

[Torus34]

Yes, this is explained in pyscology. [sic]

Hi, noonereal!

What I find of interest is that those who become believers of conspiracy theories [Ed.: or wholesale acceptors of the ideology of this or that political party,] are not part of the realm of mental pathology. They are quite often fully-functional people, leading quite normal lives. They are part of us, good ol' h. sapiens.

Regards, stay safe 'n well.

 

[noonereal]

Hi, noonereal!

What I find of interest is that those who become believers of conspiracy theories [Ed.: or wholesale acceptors of the ideology of this or that political party,] are not part of the realm of mental pathology. They are quite often fully-functional people, leading quite normal lives. They are part of us, good ol' h. sapiens.

Regards, stay safe 'n well.

We are all , to differing degrees, susceptible to conspiracy theories.

Most of our greatest minds, historically, believed in God, religion. 😉

 

[Torus34]

We are all , to differing degrees, susceptible to conspiracy theories.

Most of our greatest minds, historically, believed in God, religion. 😉

Hi again.

Yup! That, too.

Regards.

 

[MamboDervish]

Hi, MamboDervish!

If I accept your statement as true, it leads to a question; Why do they do this? It's a question perhaps best answered by sociologists and psychiatrists.

Regards, stay safe 'n well 'n remember the Big 5.

One of the underlying problems is that fabrication of "solid evidence" is not without precedent. The unfortunate fact is that conspiracy theorists exist because conspiracies themselves exist!

 

[RobertU]

Significant portions of history seem like a story, a scripted reality. Someone must have written the script; if not God, then a cabal of clever puppet masters. Or, if you want to be more scientific, we are living in a giant computer simulation written by very advanced humans, possibly from our own future or from a parallel universe.

Or, even if not a simulation, one could envision beings who have mastered time travel and access to parallel universes, who make a sport of meddling with timelines in other worlds.

 

[phoenix2020]

The majority of the world's population were raised to believe one religious dogma or another to be factual. They were raised this way from a young age --> their neurological development has been influenced by the capacity to conflate faith and fact. Such a person, in adulthood, can be convinced to believe anything, since in childhood they were taught that if enough of the people around you believe something to be factual and tell you as much, then you should take that thing as fact on the basis of their collective articulated opinion alone. These people, in adulthood, will readily believe that vaccines have chips in them if enough people in their lives repeat the claim within earshot, to take an example.

That's why we have conspiracy theories.

 

[joluoto]

If you tell a lie enough times people will believe it's true.

 

[Deuce]

I'm a retired scientist. That professional lifetime, itself the result of a desire to become a chemist first felt at the age of 6, has defined my patterns of thought to a large degree. In other words, I tend to seek to rationally understand things through demonstrable fact as opposed to 'common sense'. This provides me with what may be a built-in resistance to conspiracy theories.

Take, for example, the flat earth theory. I live near the Atlantic coast of the US. I've watched ships go hull-down over the horizon. 'Nuf said.

Conspiracy theories, more often than not, are not rooted in demonstrable fact but, rather, in what some person or group of people have stated to be true. They're based in an acceptance of the authority of a person or group. If, for instance, you accept what well-known Democrats are saying, you are in danger of accepting falsities, Exchange Republicans or liberals or conservatives for Democrats and the same caveat applies.

Adopting a mindset of "Show me through solid evidence" can do much to keep junk from accumulating on the shelves of our minds.

Another useful addition to one's thinking toolkit is a good knowledge of, and ability to recognize, logical fallacies.

Regards, stay safe 'n well 'n remember the Big 5.

I think it’s more that conspiracy theories are often based not on something factually untrue, but rather a ridiculous interpretation of something that is true. Often often made this remark around here, it’s the old adage about hearing hooves and thinking horses instead of zebras. A conspiracy theorist hears hooves and thinks unicorns. No amount of explaining that unicorns aren’t real will work, because they have their “proof,“ you sheeple. They hear the hooves. Are you denying the hooves are real!!?

Of course, it’s not universally true. Some conspiracy theories are just delusions like “Hillary Clinton runs a child sex trafficking ring in the basement of this random ass pizza shop that is open to the public.“

 

[Torus34]

I think it’s more that conspiracy theories are often based not on something factually untrue, but rather a ridiculous interpretation of something that is true. Often often made this remark around here, it’s the old adage about hearing hooves and thinking horses instead of zebras. A conspiracy theorist hears hooves and thinks unicorns. No amount of explaining that unicorns aren’t real will work, because they have their “proof,“ you sheeple. They hear the hooves. Are you denying the hooves are real!!?

Of course, it’s not universally true. Some conspiracy theories are just delusions like “Hillary Clinton runs a child sex trafficking ring in the basement of this random ass pizza shop that is open to the public.“

Hi, Deuce!

Conspiracy theories, like war, serve purposes. Those who believe them form something of a secret society, privy to special knowledge. At least that's how they see their group of 'true believers'. You can find groups who believe in a flat earth, groups who believe in a cabal that rules the world, groups who believe Republican dogma, groups who believe Democrat dogma, etc.. In each instance, they think of themselves as 'we' and the outsiders as 'them'. Listen to 'conservative' AM radio shows and you'll find all manner of bad things ascribed to 'them'.

Interestingly, those within a conspiracy 'community' think of themselves as the good guys, no matter what the belief.

Regards, stay safe 'n well, 'n don't fall off the edge of the Earth.

 

[Deuce]

Hi, Deuce!

Conspiracy theories, like war, serve purposes. Those who believe them form something of a secret society, privy to special knowledge. At least that's how they see their group of 'true believers'. You can find groups who believe in a flat earth, groups who believe in a cabal that rules the world, groups who believe Republican dogma, groups who believe Democrat dogma, etc.. In each instance, they think of themselves as 'we' and the outsiders as 'them'. Listen to 'conservative' AM radio shows and you'll find all manner of bad things ascribed to 'them'.

Interestingly, those within a conspiracy 'community' think of themselves as the good guys, no matter what the belief.

Regards, stay safe 'n well, 'n don't fall off the edge of the Earth.

Yes, there's definitely a need to feel special, part of the "in group" that sees the real truth, unlike all those other sheeple. That's why a conspiracy theorist will often end up believing multiple different, even contradictory conspiracies. They're much more open to accept an idea purely on the basis of it being rejected by most of society.

 

[Torus34]

Yes, there's definitely a need to feel special, part of the "in group" that sees the real truth, unlike all those other sheeple. That's why a conspiracy theorist will often end up believing multiple different, even contradictory conspiracies. They're much more open to accept an idea purely on the basis of it being rejected by most of society.

Hi again.

Chances are, though I've not seen much about it, that there's a continuum; from those who are relatively immune to conspiracy theories to those who welcome them. It's rather like the political 'spectrum'.

Regards, stay safe 'n well.

 

[psikeyhackr]

Adopting a mindset of "Show me through solid evidence" can do much to keep junk from accumulating on the shelves of our minds.

Another useful addition to one's thinking toolkit is a good knowledge of, and ability to recognize, logical fallacies.

Regards, stay safe 'n well 'n remember the Big 5.

So when were you asking about accurate data on the distributions of steel and concrete down the Twin Towers? Have you noticed that the NCSTAR1 report by the NIST does not even specify the total amount of concrete in the towers? It is only 10,000 pages at $2,000 per page.

 

[Torus34]

So when were you asking about accurate data on the distributions of steel and concrete down the Twin Towers? Have you noticed that the NCSTAR1 report by the NIST does not even specify the total amount of concrete in the towers? It is only 10,000 pages at $2,000 per page.

Hi, psikeyhackr!

In response to your question; never.

Anyhow, thank you for posting that bit of info. I've no idea as to what to do with it, I'm afraid.

Regards, stay safe 'n well.

 

[psikeyhackr]

Hi, psikeyhackr!

In response to your question; never.

Anyhow, thank you for posting that bit of info. I've no idea as to what to do with it, I'm afraid.

Fascinating!

Physics, Psychology and the 9/11 Decade

By the 10th anniversary of 9/11 the 42nd anniversary of the Moon landing will have passed. Newtonian physics will be 324 years old. Newton's Philosophi Naturalis Principia Mathematica was published on July 5th of 1687 and the first Moon landing was July 20th of 1969. How…

psikeyhackr.livejournal.com

 

[jpevans]

I'm a retired scientist. That professional lifetime, itself the result of a desire to become a chemist first felt at the age of 6, has defined my patterns of thought to a large degree. In other words, I tend to seek to rationally understand things through demonstrable fact as opposed to 'common sense'. This provides me with what may be a built-in resistance to conspiracy theories.

Take, for example, the flat earth theory. I live near the Atlantic coast of the US. I've watched ships go hull-down over the horizon. 'Nuf said.

Conspiracy theories, more often than not, are not rooted in demonstrable fact but, rather, in what some person or group of people have stated to be true. They're based in an acceptance of the authority of a person or group. If, for instance, you accept what well-known Democrats are saying, you are in danger of accepting falsities, Exchange Republicans or liberals or conservatives for Democrats and the same caveat applies.

Adopting a mindset of "Show me through solid evidence" can do much to keep junk from accumulating on the shelves of our minds.

Another useful addition to one's thinking toolkit is a good knowledge of, and ability to recognize, logical fallacies.

Regards, stay safe 'n well 'n remember the Big 5.

Conspiracy theories are theories worked up to explain something. They are starting a point for investigation. Often easily proven or disproven, i.e. everybody saw the airplanes crash into the twin towers, the science of heat distorting metal is clear that beams will twist under high heat & the method of construction (hollow center) was primed for collapse. Others are harder to prove or disprove, like the assassination of JFK, MLK etc. Not being proven is not always the same as disproving.

 

[Torus34]

Conspiracy theories are theories worked up to explain something. They are starting a point for investigation. Often easily proven or disproven, i.e. everybody saw the airplanes crash into the twin towers, the science of heat distorting metal is clear that beams will twist under high heat & the method of construction (hollow center) was primed for collapse. Others are harder to prove or disprove, like the assassination of JFK, MLK etc. Not being proven is not always the same as disproving.

Hi, jpevans!

There is, to be sure, a difference between a theory as such and a conspiracy theory. Conspiracy theories revolve about a group of insiders who know something not known by the general population at large. While a good conspiracy theory has a core of one or more facts, the conclusion drawn from them is not amenable of hard proof. Conspiracy theory 'true believers' can, when presented by solid facts refuting one claim, find a refuge in a theory offshoot.

Regards, stay safe 'n well.

 

[RobertU]

Hi, jpevans!

There is, to be sure, a difference between a theory as such and a conspiracy theory. Conspiracy theories revolve about a group of insiders who know something not known by the general population at large. While a good conspiracy theory has a core of one or more facts, the conclusion drawn from them is not amenable of hard proof. Conspiracy theory 'true believers' can, when presented by solid facts refuting one claim, find a refuge in a theory offshoot.

Regards, stay safe 'n well.

"A group of insiders who know something" certainly applies to insider trading, a criminal offense and conspiracy that can be proven.

 

[Torus34]

"A group of insiders who know something" certainly applies to insider trading, a criminal offense and conspiracy that can be proven.

Hi, RobertU!

A quick check of laws banning conspiracy can prove interesting. Some are written so loosely that activities we would not normally consider criminal conspiracy can be prosecuted.

Regards, stay safe 'n well 'n remember the Big 5.