The Power of Conspiracy Thinking

in #philosophy7 years ago

I like conspiracy theory thinking although I am not necessarily a fan of conspiracy theories themselves. The reason is that the thinking is my kind of thinking as it takes seemingly unrelated events and finds a line of questioning that an tie them together. Some of the ties are weak, some very strong and if one does this enough, occasionally it is possible to actually uncover or get insight into something significant.

In many ways, a good conspiracy theorist is much less 'tinfoil hat' and much more 'scientific methodology' than many expect. They are often critical thinkers who delay emotional response to attempt to remain objective. Not all though, and likely not the majority, as most that claim theorist are actually not much more than relay stations of information that gelled with their personal world view.

The reason I am interested in thinking along conspiratorial lines is because it helps me professionally in my business. It does this because a good conspiracy is one that is in plain sight yet, no one is looking for. If one is able to piece together these parts of the mundane to capture a trend before that trend takes place, there is a lot of opportunity to take advantage and position oneself well.

I wrote the other day about being an in between thinker and operator and perhaps that is in part due to my interest in conspiracy topics as the rabbit holes take one across many different fields of information. This inevitably leads to a wider scope than the narrowing of perspective through specialisation.

Specialisation in many respects is a key part of a good conspiracy as the focus of the specialist silos them across the spectrum of the larger movement, making discovery more difficult. It is also the specialists that can refute the claims but, most can only see their view of the situation. Valuable yes but it is a forest from the trees problem.

I see this often in all kinds of business areas where each department and each employee within overestimates their own value to the system based on a narrow view of the entire umbrella. As I travel across departments and hierarchies with disregard for authority, I get a much more rounded view of the health of an organisation than those within. This has value for my clients as the trends I unearth often mean they can adjust now for a future they had not considered earlier.

There is no conspiracy in that itself, it is just an evaluation of data points to see where there are overlaps or, what hidden strings pull on the arms of others. It is an investigation into behaviour and result across many points of reference. For me, my data is from the people themselves and the quality of the data is dependent on the quality of my ability to listen and parse the information into a narrative of explanation. This narrative is then used to present the client with a few future scenarios and my consultancy is to give some ways to approach each.

It is not a perfect science from my experience and capabilities but, having a few potential pathways to consider that were invisible before means that management teams can introduce some adjustments to either gain from or reduce the situations. So far, although I have work on both sides, there has been the majority of gain on the unforseen risk factors.

This is because the majority of management team and supporting specialists are over optimistic in their predictions as mostly, they are overgenerous in their own abilities to understand the situation. This plagues all kinds of specialists including the doctors and scientists. "With all that training, how can we be wrong?"

'Silos, echo chambers and arrogance', is the answer.

It is common that the specialists spend so much time in their narrow field of vision with other people supporting them that they forget to look up and past their noses or, turn their heads to the side. They often are dismissive of the 'unqualified' as there is a lack of 'evidence'.

This is the problem with evidence though, it needs to be found and if a conspiracy is broad enough, the evidence is scattered far and wide and one piece alone doesn't prove it. But, without looking at all pieces together, not much can be discerned. Specialists rarely look wide, conspiracy theorist thinkers do.

Does it make them right? Is a plausible conspiracy an actual conspiracy? No but, thinking broadly across topics develops the skill set to widen perspectives and explore the unknown. As said, many good conspiracy theorists are unattached emotionally to the theories or the results, they just follow possibility. This is how scientists make discoveries also and many of the most important discoveries were laughed at or deemed impossible by the specialists in the same field.

Should we believe in every conspiracy theory? No. But there is no harm to entertain the ideas...unless you are prone to get emotionally attached to a certain result. Attachment narrows the vision, closes the mind and sees what it wants to see. It specialises.

For me, it is a lot of fun to think of the What ifs of the world and it keeps things interesting as with each dive, I find something new, another data point to compare the rest against. It helps me become a little more creative.

Try it, but don't believe... Find out.

Taraz
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These days conspiracy theories run rampant and people take them as fact. It's dangerous. Every mass shooting people are posting how everyone are actors or other nonsense. This all takes away from the larger picture that there is a major mental health issue that needs to be addressed.

Maybe it's easier for some people to believe that the government or some shadow government stages these shootings for their own gain then to look at the fact that society is degrading and we are failing a segment of our population that has mental health issues.

Or just maybe it's because they have watched way to many TV shows and movies showing that everything is a conspiracy.

Either way people need to live a little more in reality and less in their alter reality so things can get done to fix the issues.

"What Ifs" are great when placed on something useful, like What If we can change the way we look at those with mental health issues and get them some help vs acting like it's not an issue. Or worse treating people with these issues like they are the plague and need to be shunned, mistreated, and avoided all of which just make their mental health issues worse.

Either way people need to live a little more in reality and less in their alter reality so things can get done to fix the issues.

I definitely agree with this.

There is a big difference in those that think through the possibilities and those who absorb them. Gullibility seems to be a symptom of the engineered internet views of the world.

Here's what I read: One of the reasons for the emergence of the conspiracy theory is the deep social and psychological needs of man. The perception of the provisions of conspiracy theory is closely connected with the mechanisms of stereotyping, projection and the phenomenon of escapism, as well as the complexity of human understanding of random events, the fragmentary perception of the world, the desire for a holistic view of the picture of events. The reason for the success of conspiracy theories is also called the ideological response to social inequality. Perhaps because of the acute perception of social inequality, you are attracted to conspiracy theories.

It is possible but unlikely. If there is an attraction to it, it started when I was 4 or 5 reading a book in my parent's collection on 'unexplained' mysteries. These mysteries as far as I know have all been thooughly debunked but, as a child I enjoyed exploring them.

We all come from childhood :)

Conspiracy theories are mostly an exercise in back-fitting events to support a desired belief. I think there is a psychological need to find an answer – any answer to unnerving questions so people come up with conspiracies to satisfy that need. If you need a conspiracy theory to maintain your belief, you may want to rethink that belief because it is on some very thin ice. Your belief is now using its final, most powerful trick to stay in your head. It owns you.

In my mind there are no “Grand Conspiracies.” They would collapse under their own weight because people can’t shut up that long. Ancient Aliens, The Illuminati and most  government conspiracies can be adequately explained by mundane actions and processes but that’s no fun. Let’s come up with the most outrageous scenario possible, back-fit facts and make up “evidence” and see if we can make ourselves believe it! Now that’s fun! Delusions are just another type of drug allowing us to avoid reality.

Seeking the truth is difficult and reality is uncomfortable that’s why we avoid them like the plague. Therefore conspiracy theories should be seen as just another form of self-medication.

As said, there is a difference between thinking about them and believing them in the same way there are truths to be found in the bible or in Shakespeare, there is also a lot of artistic licence in both. Reading them doesn't do the harm or the good, it is the resulting actions.

I find that when studying history, most conspiracy theories are just post-facto narratives trying to organise what, when scrutinised more closely, are just the unrelated actions of opportunists taking advantage of random events without planning beforehand.

But I see how how the method of thinking can be useful for what you do, and in other fields; I just wouldn't call that conspriational thinking 8-).

No, it is just thought. Everyone does it but some do it more than others across broader topic bases.

I like conspiracy theory thinking although I am not necessarily a fan of conspiracy theories themselves. The reason is that the thinking is my kind of thinking as it takes seemingly unrelated events and finds a line of questioning that an tie them together. Some of the ties are weak, some very strong and if one does this enough, occasionally it is possible to actually uncover or get insight into something significant.

This does not surprise me. One of your dominant thinking processes, if not the dominant one, is pattern recognition in response to external stimuli. It is very clear from your writing style and the personality it conveys. What you wrote in an earlier post about often having difficulty stopping and composing an organised line of thinking in the middle of the constant flurry of ideas that you experience struck a chord.

But I also realized that I am nowhere near your intensity. I believe that, relatively speaking, my mind is dominated to a greater degree by processes that quietly organize it. One of my big motives has always been to discover immutable truths or the "bottom line" of everything but I'm no stranger to what goes on in your head every waking hour. :)

One of my big motives has always been to discover immutable truths or the "bottom line" of everything but I'm no stranger to what goes on in your head every waking hour. :)

The bottomless pit :)

Conspiracy theories at times are like smokes there will always be a fire somewhere,
In some cases the truth tend to be hidden somewhere deep in them, however nobody will bother to check in they direction

Wow..this is quite a different view👍

embracing & terrific!

In what way?

I find the best way sometimes is to try and debunk conspiracy theorys especially the more out there ones. When iv done this its made me take a step back and look deeper into things with a fresh set of eyes, proving the conspiracy to be true x

Conspiracy theory makes about rare things to be discovered. You just need to dig deeper into it and spend time to study how did they exist... For me, conspiracy theory starts with "curiosity", Isn't it?

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