The opening epigram for the book comes from Stephen Pinker's latest book, Rationality. We can see why humans steer their reasoning toward conclusions that work to the advantage of themselves or their sex. Conspiracy theories incite terrorism, pogroms, wars, and genocide. A corrosion of standards of truth undermines democracy and clears the ground for tyranny. The arc of knowledge is a long one, and it bends toward rationality.
Michael Shermer discusses his new book Conspiracy, out October 25, 2022. In Conspiracy Shermer:
- reviews and integrates evolutionary, psychological, social, cultural, political, and economic conditions that fuel conspiracy theories
- presents his own original three-tiered theoretical model of Proxy Conspiracism, Tribal Conspiracism, and Constructive Conspiracism
- classifies and systematizes conspiracy theories in order to tease apart their different causes (incl. JFK’s assassination, the 9/11 Truth movement, Pizzagate, QAnon, the Big Lie, Project MKULTRA, Operation Paperclip, and the perennial conspiracy theories surrounding UFOs)
- offers his Conspiracy Detection Kit on how to tell if a conspiracy theory is true, false, or undecidable
- and suggests how to talk to a conspiracy theorist.
You can order your copy on Amazon (https://amzn.to/3Eza8Lf) and Audible (https://adbl.co/3eGXkaT) now.