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[OT] Do you subscribe to any conspiracy theories?
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<blockquote data-quote="Pielorinho" data-source="post: 149201" data-attributes="member: 259"><p>A conspiracy, as I understand it, is when a group of people get together and make a plan to do something shady or illegal.</p><p></p><p>Do I believe in conspiracies? Absolutely not: people NEVER plan to do shady or illegal things!</p><p></p><p>Obviously, in a technical sense, conspiracies exist. I guess the real question is whether X generally-trusted large organization is carrying out a huge conspiracy that is out of character for them.</p><p></p><p>Does the Vatican really have the world's largest collection of pornography? I doubt it: it's out of character for them, I've seen no evidence that this is true, and it sounds awful like something that an anti-Catholic would say to make the Vatican look bad.</p><p></p><p>Does the US government really have a UFO in Roswell? I doubt it: there's little real evidence that they do, all the evidence that DOES exist is more easily explained by commonly-accepted phenomena, and the quesiton has been so studied that it would be very difficult for the government to keep it a secret still.</p><p></p><p>Are corrupt small-town officials in Western North Carolina soliciting bribes from road construction companies and diverting the monies into their campaign coffers? It sure looks that way; I saw a neighboring town be featured in News of the Weird this week.</p><p></p><p>Did a small group of angry men meet today and talk very seriously about how they could blow up a bunch of American civilians? I'd bet on it: we know that conspiracies like this existed, and we can bet they still exist.</p><p></p><p>Was Martin Luther King, Jr. really killed by a conspiracy of Southern white supremacists who pinned the blame on James Earl Ray? Insufficient Data: either way wouldn't surprise me.</p><p></p><p>I think there area couple of helpful concepts to remember when discussing conspiracy theories:</p><p>-Extraordinary cliaims require extraordinary evidence. If you claim that the downtown bank was robbed by a conspiracy of criminals, you don't need overwhelming evidence to convince me. If you claim that the conspiracy of criminals was actually stealing an ancient volume of forbidden lore from the bank's vaults, you better have some powerful proof.</p><p>-Strange Loops are scary. I think Robert Anton Wilson came up with this concept: any theory that postulates a conspiracy that manufactures (or suppresses) more fake evidence than the theory rests on could have manufactured the evidence that the theory rests on. Then what do you believe? Holocaust deniers are the perfect example of strange loop theorists: any organization that could fabricate the mountains of evidence of the Holocaust could surely fabricate the shreds of "evidence" that the Holocaust didn't happen.</p><p>-Occam's razor is your friend. The fewer assumptions a theory requires to you make, the likelier it is to be true.</p><p>-Conspiracy theories are awful hard to discuss without veering into dangerous political waters. I've tried to stay out of such waters; my apology if I've failed.</p><p></p><p>Daniel</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Pielorinho, post: 149201, member: 259"] A conspiracy, as I understand it, is when a group of people get together and make a plan to do something shady or illegal. Do I believe in conspiracies? Absolutely not: people NEVER plan to do shady or illegal things! Obviously, in a technical sense, conspiracies exist. I guess the real question is whether X generally-trusted large organization is carrying out a huge conspiracy that is out of character for them. Does the Vatican really have the world's largest collection of pornography? I doubt it: it's out of character for them, I've seen no evidence that this is true, and it sounds awful like something that an anti-Catholic would say to make the Vatican look bad. Does the US government really have a UFO in Roswell? I doubt it: there's little real evidence that they do, all the evidence that DOES exist is more easily explained by commonly-accepted phenomena, and the quesiton has been so studied that it would be very difficult for the government to keep it a secret still. Are corrupt small-town officials in Western North Carolina soliciting bribes from road construction companies and diverting the monies into their campaign coffers? It sure looks that way; I saw a neighboring town be featured in News of the Weird this week. Did a small group of angry men meet today and talk very seriously about how they could blow up a bunch of American civilians? I'd bet on it: we know that conspiracies like this existed, and we can bet they still exist. Was Martin Luther King, Jr. really killed by a conspiracy of Southern white supremacists who pinned the blame on James Earl Ray? Insufficient Data: either way wouldn't surprise me. I think there area couple of helpful concepts to remember when discussing conspiracy theories: -Extraordinary cliaims require extraordinary evidence. If you claim that the downtown bank was robbed by a conspiracy of criminals, you don't need overwhelming evidence to convince me. If you claim that the conspiracy of criminals was actually stealing an ancient volume of forbidden lore from the bank's vaults, you better have some powerful proof. -Strange Loops are scary. I think Robert Anton Wilson came up with this concept: any theory that postulates a conspiracy that manufactures (or suppresses) more fake evidence than the theory rests on could have manufactured the evidence that the theory rests on. Then what do you believe? Holocaust deniers are the perfect example of strange loop theorists: any organization that could fabricate the mountains of evidence of the Holocaust could surely fabricate the shreds of "evidence" that the Holocaust didn't happen. -Occam's razor is your friend. The fewer assumptions a theory requires to you make, the likelier it is to be true. -Conspiracy theories are awful hard to discuss without veering into dangerous political waters. I've tried to stay out of such waters; my apology if I've failed. Daniel [/QUOTE]
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[OT] Do you subscribe to any conspiracy theories?
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