{"id":5005936,"date":"2010-09-04T16:20:04","date_gmt":"2010-09-04T14:20:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/criticalbiomass.blog.hu\/2010\/09\/04\/conspiracy_theories_in_science"},"modified":"2010-09-04T16:20:04","modified_gmt":"2010-09-04T14:20:04","slug":"conspiracy_theories_in_science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/criticalbiomass.hu\/?p=5005936","title":{"rendered":"Conspiracy theories in science"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img class=\"blossom-image-align-left\" src=\"http:\/\/criticalbiomass.blog.hu\/media\/image\/201009\/embor-contheo.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>Ezzel a c\u00edmmel <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/embor\/journal\/v11\/n7\/full\/embor201084.html\">jelent meg<\/a> egy j\u00f3 kis cikk Ted Goertzel toll\u00e1b\u00f3l m\u00e9g valamikor a ny\u00e1r elej\u00e9n az EMBO Reportsban. Akkor \u00edrni akartam r\u00f3la, de azt\u00e1n kiment a fejemb\u0151l, most azonban takar\u00edt\u00e1s k\u00f6zben szerencs\u00e9re a kezembe ker\u00fclt.<\/p>\n<p>Egy kis \u00edzel\u00edt\u0151 a cikkb\u0151l:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>&#8220;The logic of the conspiracy meme is to question everything the  \u2018establishment\u2019\u2014be it government or scientists\u2014says or does, even on the  most hypothetical and speculative grounds, and to demand immediate,  comprehensive and definitive answers to all questions. A failure to give  convincing answers is then used as proof of conspiratorial deception.  Meanwhile, conspiracy theorists offer their own alternative theories  with the flimsiest of evidence, challenging the authorities to prove  them wrong. [&#8230;]<\/em><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><img class=\"blossom-image-align-left\" src=\"http:\/\/criticalbiomass.blog.hu\/media\/image\/201009\/embor-contheo.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>Ezzel a c\u00edmmel <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/embor\/journal\/v11\/n7\/full\/embor201084.html\">jelent meg<\/a> egy j\u00f3 kis cikk Ted Goertzel toll\u00e1b\u00f3l m\u00e9g valamikor a ny\u00e1r elej\u00e9n az EMBO Reportsban. Akkor \u00edrni akartam r\u00f3la, de azt\u00e1n kiment a fejemb\u0151l, most azonban takar\u00edt\u00e1s k\u00f6zben szerencs\u00e9re a kezembe ker\u00fclt.<\/p>\n<p>Egy kis \u00edzel\u00edt\u0151 a cikkb\u0151l:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>&#8220;The logic of the conspiracy meme is to question everything the  \u2018establishment\u2019\u2014be it government or scientists\u2014says or does, even on the  most hypothetical and speculative grounds, and to demand immediate,  comprehensive and definitive answers to all questions. A failure to give  convincing answers is then used as proof of conspiratorial deception.  Meanwhile, conspiracy theorists offer their own alternative theories  with the flimsiest of evidence, challenging the authorities to prove  them wrong. [&#8230;]<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"norm\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>Many of these theories are clearly absurd, but some have  a veneer of possibility. How can we distinguish between the amusing  eccentrics, the honestly misguided, the avaricious litigants and the  serious sceptics questioning a premature consensus? No private  individual has the time or the expertise to examine the original  research literature on each topic, so it is important to have some  guidelines for deciding which theories are plausible enough to merit  serious examination.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"norm\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>One valuable guideline is to look for cascade logic in conspiracy arguments (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/embor\/journal\/v11\/n7\/full\/embor201084.html#B34\">Susstein &amp; Vermeule, 2008<\/a>).  This occurs when defenders of one conspiracy theory find it necessary  to implicate more and more people whose failure to discover or reveal  the conspiracy can only be explained by their alleged complicity.  Another guideline is to look for exaggerated claims about the power of  the conspirators: claims that are needed to explain how they were able  to intimidate so many people and cover their tracks so well. The more  vast and more powerful the alleged conspiracy, the less likely that it  could have remained undiscovered. [&#8230;]<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"norm\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>Even if a conspiracy theory is implausible, it can be used as a  rhetorical device to appeal to the emotions of a significant public. The  conspiracy meme flourishes best in politics, religion and journalism,  in which practitioners can succeed by attracting followers from the  general public. These practitioners might actually believe the  conspiracy theory, or they might simply use it to win public support. [&#8230;]<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"norm\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>Conspiracy theories are dangerous when the meme is used to discredit  scientific evidence in a public forum or in a legal proceeding. The  conspiracy meme is part of the standard repertoire of memes used by  lawyers to discredit evidence offered by \u2018experts\u2019 of all kinds. Lawyers  focus on the motivations of the experts, on who hired them, what they  are being paid for their testimony and so on. They also seek out an  \u2018expert\u2019 who will testify on their side, implying that expertise is for  sale to the highest bidder and that opinion is divided on the issue in  question.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"norm\">Sz\u00f3 esik azt\u00e1n ebben a kontextusban Wakefield MMR-hisztij\u00e9r\u0151l, Pusztai GMO-s h\u00edrver\u00e9s\u00e9r\u0151l, Duesberg HIV-AIDS kapcsolatot megk\u00e9rd\u0151jelez\u0151, hihetetlen vesz\u00e9lyes &#8220;elm\u00e9let\u00e9r\u0151ll&#8221;, Pauling C-vitamin obszesszi\u00f3j\u00e1r\u00f3l \u00e9s persze a kl\u00edmav\u00e1ltoz\u00e1ssal szemben &#8220;szkeptikusak&#8221; n\u00e9pes \u00e9s befoly\u00e1sos klubbj\u00e1r\u00f3l.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"><strong>Goertzel T<\/strong> (2010) Conspiracy theories in science. <em>EMBO Rep<\/em> <strong>11(7)<\/strong>: 493-499. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ezzel a c\u00edmmel jelent meg egy j\u00f3 kis cikk Ted Goertzel toll\u00e1b\u00f3l m\u00e9g valamikor a ny\u00e1r elej\u00e9n az EMBO Reportsban. Akkor \u00edrni akartam r\u00f3la, de azt\u00e1n kiment a fejemb\u0151l, most azonban takar\u00edt\u00e1s k\u00f6zben szerencs\u00e9re a kezembe ker\u00fclt. Egy kis \u00edzel\u00edt\u0151 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/criticalbiomass.hu\/?p=5005936\">Egy kattint\u00e1s ide a folytat\u00e1shoz&#8230;. <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/criticalbiomass.hu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5005936"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/criticalbiomass.hu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/criticalbiomass.hu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/criticalbiomass.hu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/criticalbiomass.hu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5005936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/criticalbiomass.hu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5005936\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/criticalbiomass.hu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5005936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/criticalbiomass.hu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5005936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/criticalbiomass.hu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5005936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}