The Leverhulme-funded project based at Cambridge University at the Centre for Research into the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH).

Theories and beliefs about conspiracies are an enduring feature of modern societies. This is partly a reflection of the fact that real conspiracies do exist, and have existed in the past. But the pervasiveness of conspiracy theories in the twenty-first century suggests that many other factors are also at work, And studying them provides opportunities for understanding how people make sense of the world and how societies function. What does the prevalence of conspiracy theories tell us about trust in democratic societies, and about the differences between cultures and societies?

For more information about the project and future events please go to http://www.conspiracyanddemocracy.org

Youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/user/conspiracydemocracy/feed

I've been following the lectures and interviews on youtube for sometime now and it's definitely worth a look for both debunker and conspiracy theorist or just anyone with a passing interest in the subject.

They should find some really important pseudo-intellectual bullshit to discuss. Like whether or not conspiracy theories could exist in Vulcan culture.

psik

psikeyhackr wrote:They should find some really important pseudo-intellectual bullshit to discuss. Like whether or not conspiracy theories could exist in Vulcan culture.

psik

I can't reckon the angle of this comment, where you coming from?

Wilbur wrote:

psikeyhackr wrote:They should find some really important pseudo-intellectual bullshit to discuss. Like whether or not conspiracy theories could exist in Vulcan culture.

psik

I can't reckon the angle of this comment, where you coming from?

It is 75% sarcasm and 25% facetiousness. I watched 3 of those videos. Mostly they are not talking about 9/11 but trying to mush all conspiracy thinking together. I didn't notice any mention of physics.

It is just pseudo-intellectual bullshit from people with worthless degrees like psychology.

Collpsing skyscrapers are middle school physics.

psik

Interesting pursuit. Thanks for the links, I will peruse them more thoroughly in time.

For now, the most interesting thing to me personally, is that these studies, and the responses in this thread, are providing excellent support for my observation that at the core of all of this, is one fundamental human motivation:

the urge to feel that one is on the right track.

Basically modern democracies stimulate conspiracies because the political elite cannot meet honest standards. They have to twist facts and even lie in order to sell their prefered but subjective national interests. They need popular support so they sell a "package" using marketing-like manipulation. This behaviour is perhaps understandable but it hurts the credibility of political institutions. And conspiracies thrive on distrust.

I disagree with your choice of the phrase "have to" twist facts and so on. I submit that they don't HAVE TO, at all. They have been choosing to do so, and that contributes to distrust of them, and thence to conspiracy energies as well.

Well, without the possibility to outright surpress information leaders in modern democracies tend to "marketeer" their agenda, which implies a certain amount of required dishonesty. No?

In English at least, your way of saying this implies that the people who are "marketeering" are not personally responsible for their actions.

I don't myself have much patience for anyone who claims that they "had to lie," unless they were under physical personal threat of violence at the time.

igorfrankensteen wrote: I don't myself have much patience for anyone who claims that they "had to lie," unless they were under physical personal threat of violence at the time.

Well if the truth will not serve the desired objective then they simply preferred to lie to get what they wanted.

psik

psikeyhackr wrote:

igorfrankensteen wrote: I don't myself have much patience for anyone who claims that they "had to lie," unless they were under physical personal threat of violence at the time.

Well if the truth will not serve the desired objective then they simply preferred to lie to get what they wanted.

psik

Joosus, have some regard for the sake.

Joe booze us

nO pLaner

JaH heezzee

Poe-eples with a snatch, yur just inviting ------RApe!

I've cared for them, the quadrapee. Oh the pedality.. jOEmeebus

thE eff? rae deo

teh bubzz