An article that has just been published in the Public Library of Science-One (PLoS1) presents a mathematical model that shows how long a conspiracy theory can survive before disconfirming evidence becomes available, beliefs such as the moon landing was a fraud or climate change is a hoax or vaccine cause autism/massive rates of disorders. The popular media has picked up on this article and one example appears in the UK Guardian; see: http://www.theguardian.com/profile/david-robert-grimes NOTE: the page above lists the articles written by David Grimes for the Guardian and he is the author of PL0S1 article. Tipsters might find some of the other articles he has written of interest. The January 2016 article is the one on this topic.
The Live Science website also has a mass media story about the PLoS1 article; see: http://www.livescience.com/53494-how-to-tell-if-conspiracy-theories-are-real.html For folks who like primary sources (you know who you are), Grimes' article can be read at the following website (PDF is available for free): http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0147905 Of course, if you really, really believe in something, like the moon landing was fake or vaccine cause autism or whatever crackpot theory -- as long as you sincerely believe it -- what is the relevance of such a model or even disconfirming factual evidence? Short answer: Model and empirical evidence don't matter if you believe, sincerely and completely. Just as the folks in the U.S. Congress who don't believe in climate change or evolution. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=47988 or send a blank email to leave-47988-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
