Black Cats in Dark Rooms: Conspiracy Theories

As an old adage (mistakenly attributed to Confucius) notes, it’s difficult to find a black cat in a dark room, especially when there is no cat. Conspiracy theories have always been prevalent in the United States, but today they seem to be especially popular, from politics to popular culture, particularly on social media. In the spirit of another adage, even paranoids have enemies: there are real conspiracies, and some of them are important and even dangerous. How do you tell the genuine conspiracies from the tinfoil hat ones? Dr. Eugenie C. Scott is the former executive director of the National Center for Science Education, Inc. Dr. Scott is an internationally known expert on the creationism and evolution controversy and science denialism, and she is called upon by the press and other media to explain science to the general public. The author of Evolution vs. Creationism: An Introduction and co-editor with Glenn Branch of Not in Our Classrooms: Why Intelligent Design Is Wrong for Our Schools, she is the recipient of numerous awards from scientists and educators, and has been awarded 10 honorary degrees. MLF ORGANIZER Patrick O'Reilly NOTES MLF: Psychology

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