Conspiracy theories thrive in a climate of fear and uncertainty. Unfortunately, humans tend to look to them to make sense of complex, unexpected events or to reinforce strongly held worldviews. How can this be explained? Here is a classic on the subject:
Legal scholar Cass R. Sunstein offers thoughtful, worthy essays on conspiracies, animal rights, government and climate.
Cass R. Sunstein Simon & Schuster
Americans have always been skeptical of intellectuals and experts. Today, says Tom Nichols, a professor of national security affairs at the US Naval War College, that attitude has mutated into outright hostility. In general, Americans have never been so willing to reject the knowledge of those who actually know something. This embrace of self-righteous ignorance bodes ill for the nation’s future. American society must re-establish constructive rules of engagement between laypeople and experts to keep democracy from devolving into mob rule or “elitist technocracy.”
The reluctance to give up false truths may have been an evolutionary advantage for early humans.
Julie Beck The Atlantic
How can you protect yourself from hyped misinformation? This is more than an abstract problem, as the internet drives the radicalization and conspiracies that can fuel real-life chaos and violence. Thankfully, there are ways to counter the post-truth:
Fake news has become pervasive worldwide. How can society better recognize and reject this false information?
David M. J. Lazer, Matthew A. Baum, Yochai Benkler, Adam J. Berinsky, Kelly M. Greenhill, Filippo Menczer, Miriam J. Metzger, Brendan Nyhan, Gordon Pennycook, David Rothschild, Michael Schudson, Steven A. Sloman, Cass R. Sunstein, Emily A, Thorson, Duncan J. Watts and Jonathan L. Zittrain Science
It is an odd comfort to know that the human species has survived plagues, pestilence, wars and sundry other disasters for as long as humankind has walked the Earth. Here are 5 lessons on how to move forward!
“How Do I Use Data (Science) to Solve Real-World Problems?”
It sounds complicated. It is. But with these five steps, you can do it.
Evolution Has a Thing for Wackos
Why people prefer conspiracy theories and mystical tales to rational science.
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