Why conspiracies are so popular — and what we can do to stop them

[Michie]

Even in the face of overwhelming evidence, false narratives can be incredibly sticky. Many people insist that the earth is flat, that childhood vaccines cause autism, or that climate change is a hoax, despite ample scientific evidence to the contrary.

“Stories are very powerful,” said Timothy Tangherlini, a UC Berkeley professor in the Department of Scandinavian and the School of Information. “We’re much more comfortable with hearing stories that confirm our beliefs than ones that challenge them.”

Tangherlini sees narratives like these, and the many other conspiracies that are rife in today’s internet culture, as a type of modern-day folklore. As a computational folklorist, he uses AI tools to study how social media networks have accelerated the spread of conspiracies and false beliefs, and what, if anything, we can do to slow them down.

Following an election cycle dominated by conspiracies and hoaxes — from elites controlling the path of hurricanes, to 20 million missing votes for Kamala Harris and immigrants eating people’s pets — Tangherlini’s work is more relevant than ever. Berkeley Newsspoke with Tangherlini about why conspiratorial thinking has flourished in recent years and how we might spread stories of inclusion and truth that are powerful enough to stem the tide of false belief.

UC Berkeley News: What motivated you to study conspiracy theories through the lens of folklore and storytelling?​

Continued below.

Why conspiracies are so popular — and what we can do to stop them - Berkeley News

UC Berkeley Professor Timothy Tangherlini uses lessons from folklore and AI to understand how social media fuels the spread of conspiracies, and how we can use storytelling tools to stem the tide of misinformation.

news.berkeley.edu

 

[linux.poet]

MOD HAT ON​

This thread has been moved from Conspiracy Theories to The Kitchen Sink. ​

MOD HAT OFF​

 

[Gregory Thompson]

There were always conspiracy theories, but social media seems to have accelerated the effect.

In the US good luck stopping conspiracy theories, until mr fake news stops being the leader. If there is no authority for knowledge that people trust, then people just go with what seems to be correct.

Banning social media companies? probably wouldn't work. People would just start free apps again.

 

[timf]

Conspiracy theories thrive as people want to feel good in the face of not understanding what is happening around them. Truth has less value than comfort.

 

[partinobodycular]

Even in the face of overwhelming evidence, false narratives can be incredibly sticky. Many people insist that the earth is flat, that childhood vaccines cause autism, or that climate change is a hoax, despite ample scientific evidence to the contrary.

“Stories are very powerful,” said Timothy Tangherlini, a UC Berkeley professor in the Department of Scandinavian and the School of Information. “We’re much more comfortable with hearing stories that confirm our beliefs than ones that challenge them.”

Tangherlini sees narratives like these, and the many other conspiracies that are rife in today’s internet culture, as a type of modern-day folklore. As a computational folklorist, he uses AI tools to study how social media networks have accelerated the spread of conspiracies and false beliefs, and what, if anything, we can do to slow them down.

Following an election cycle dominated by conspiracies and hoaxes — from elites controlling the path of hurricanes, to 20 million missing votes for Kamala Harris and immigrants eating people’s pets — Tangherlini’s work is more relevant than ever. Berkeley Newsspoke with Tangherlini about why conspiratorial thinking has flourished in recent years and how we might spread stories of inclusion and truth that are powerful enough to stem the tide of false belief.

UC Berkeley News: What motivated you to study conspiracy theories through the lens of folklore and storytelling?​

Continued below.

Why conspiracies are so popular — and what we can do to stop them - Berkeley News

UC Berkeley Professor Timothy Tangherlini uses lessons from folklore and AI to understand how social media fuels the spread of conspiracies, and how we can use storytelling tools to stem the tide of misinformation.

news.berkeley.edu

I'm sorry, but did you really think this through before starting this thread?

You're a Catholic.

Isn't that basically the mother of all conspiracy theories?

There's an all powerful God who's going to send everyone to hell unless we worship Him and His Son? It's a conspiracy theory on steroids. Popularized, legitimized, and institutionalized.

 

[Michie]

Conspiracy theories thrive as people want to feel good in the face of not understanding what is happening around them. Truth has less value than comfort.

I think there is a touch of ego in it. A lot like to think they are in on the inside info that most are not.

 

[Michie]

There were always conspiracy theories, but social media seems to have accelerated the effect.

In the US good luck stopping conspiracy theories, until mr fake news stops being the leader. If there is no authority for knowledge that people trust, then people just go with what seems to be correct.

Banning social media companies? probably wouldn't work. People would just start free apps again.

Conspiracy theories existed before media. The difference is it used to exist with a small fringe of people. Mass media has just popularized it. Which makes it more prone to people acting out in violence or being fearful of things such as vaccines, etc. Conspiracies aren’t what was once considered as secret knowledge. As mentioned in the op, what is it about these conspiracies that resonate with certain people?

My sister had a mental breakdown through Icke’s stuff and is still damaged from it. My brother in law stopped taking heart medication because of the pharmaceutical conspiracies and put himself into heart failure. I’m sure there are a plethora of consequences out there due to conspiracy theories.

 

[partinobodycular]

A lot like to think they are in on the inside info that most are not.

And it's basically unassailable, anyone who disagrees with the conspiracist is either ignorant or part of the conspiracy. Therefore there's a sense of power in the fact that any argument brought against them can be defeated simply by invoking one of those two responses. It makes them look rational and the other person close-minded... or at least it seems that way to the conspiracist.

Unfortunately, religion relies upon the exact same thing.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Conspiracy theories existed before media. The difference is it used to exist with a small fringe of people. Mass media has just popularized it. Which makes it more prone to people acting out in violence or being fearful of things such as vaccines, etc. Conspiracies aren’t what was once considered as secret knowledge. As mentioned in the op, what is it about these conspiracies that resonate with certain people?

My sister had a mental breakdown Icke’s through stuff and is still damaged from it. My brother in law stopped taking heart medication because of the pharmaceutical conspiracies and put himself into heart failure. I’m sure there are a plethora of consequences out there due to conspiracy theories.

Yeah, the conspiracy theories drive people insane and cause injury if you follow what they say like a religion. However, this is part of the process. If people are stupid enough to try and charge their phone in the microwave, they probably didn't deserve to have one anyway.

People just believe what they want to. It's much like how entertainment takes advantage of the desire of lust and the desire to die. I recall a novel protagonist trying to stop people from jumping off a figurative cliff calling them all phony. . . to no result. I also remember a certain biblical prophet speaking the same message for 20 years and no one listening ... even though it resulted in the nation being conquered.

Lesson learned, people don't listen unless they want to.

 

[Tuur]

Reading the Berkley News article, it can be summed up by the Disney song Trust in Me. Eroding trust in media? Have the good people of Berkley never read the pithy comments of Thomas Jefferson about the media of his day, or how he hired Joseph Callendar to smear John Adams? William Random Hearst and the run-up to the Spanish American War rang no bells? Over a century ago, my family encountered a reporter who refused to tell how a locally famous ghost turned out to be an old cat. Nearly half a century ago, I was at an event that bore no resemblance to how it was reported on a nightly news program. You cannot erode what you do not have.

Ironically, I'd put absolute trust in the media in the same category as conspiracy theories. There has to be distrust of competing sources of information. There is likely some confirmation bias in play as well. And after a while, there's an emotional investment.

Once, while taking my father to a doctor's appointment, a truck with mud tires pulled slightly behind us in the other lane. We'd just made a rest stop and the sound was so much like the car was in low gear than I checked. My father thought the same thing, and I explained that it was the sound of the truck beside us. He kept insisting I had the car in low. When we stopped, he told me to move the gear shift one place to the left. Being the car was in drive, that put it into neutral. He thought it would put the car into drive. I did as he said, and raced the motor to show it was in neutral.

"You moved it over too far," my father said.

That's all there is to conspiracy theories. Once one has an emotional stake in it, it's a hard thing to admit being wrong.

 

[Apple Sky]

My sister had a mental breakdown through Icke’s stuff and is still damaged from it. My brother in law stopped taking heart medication because of the pharmaceutical conspiracies and put himself into heart failure. I’m sure there are a plethora of consequences out there due to conspiracy theories.

There's loads of bad publicity about Icke on the MSM too many for my liking.

Google Search

But never mentions anything about flat earth ??

 

[Michie]

There's loads of bad publicity about Icke on the MSM too many for my liking.

Google Search

But never mentions anything about flat earth ??

No he does not promote the flat earth belief.

 

[Apple Sky]

No he does not promote the flat earth belief.

Well I suppose that's one notch on his bed post for many on here

 

[Michie]

Well I suppose that's one notch on his bed post for many on here

No notches from me. I think he is a nut.

 

[Apple Sky]

No notches from me. I think he is a nut.

Can't disagree with you there

 

[timewerx]

I found conspiracy theories interesting or even mystifying at first.

But when tons of people starts cashing in the fad, together with fake news - deceiving everyone for selfish gains, all for the love of money, I no longer found them interesting.

Contents with high numbers of views for short periods of time are either designed to waste your time or is embellishing facts and outright intently meant to deceive.

I'm blocking all those channels....so that others will follow suit and decide that enough is enough.