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Leonardo da Vinci's creative process
How to approach problem-solving like da Vinci
The importance of curiosity and observation
This is The Present World
Our government sometimes does shady things and gets caught. Pharmaceutical companies price gouge medications. Powerful people silence victims of sexual assault and abuse. Foreign governments are attempting to sow discord in the U.S. through social media. Systemic injustices and cultural prejudices hamper some people’s ability to succeed in our society.
Plots, scandals, collusions, and cover-ups do occur in business and politics — just rarely on the scale as imagined by conspiracy theorists.
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Conspiracy Theory
A consipracy theory is the assumption that “a well-organized effort initiated by an elite group of powerful men and women secretly working toward a singular goal or vision that often involves collaboration between government agencies and the media.”
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Mystery Cult
A conspiracy theory is like a “mystery cults” the apostle Paul had to contend with at the city of Ephesus. Mystery cults were very common in Ancient Rome, and they attracted followers by promising to reveal the “mysteries of the universe” to those who joined.
Conspiracy theories are more likely to spread among people with lower levels of education. But that doesn’t mean people who are higher educated are immune to their allure. Conspiracy theories are just as likely to spread among people with radical political ideologies.
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For Narcissisms Sake
The outlandish theories appeal to a strong streak of narcissism: there are people who would choose to believe in complicated nonsense rather than accept that their own circumstances are incomprehensible, the result of issues beyond their intellectual capacity to understand, or even their own fault.”
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Conspiracy Theories Help Us Make Sense of The World
- We as human beings do not like unanswered moral questions. We want to know who did it.
- We want to know how it was done. We’re looking for a pattern.
- Our intelligence, given to us by God, is a pattern-seeking intelligence.
- Our ability to discern patterns helps us construct internal narratives that give our lives meaning and make sense of the world around us.
- Conspiracy theories hijack that ability by linking loosely-connected events into a semi-coherent narrative
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Conspiracy Theories Make Our Reality Seem More Exciting
The people most likely to believe the government is too incompetent to be trusted are often the people most likely to believe the government also has the ability to secretly orchestrate massive operations under the noses of most Americans.
Government bureaucracy is boring. Conspiracy theories are ridiculously entertaining. If you don’t believe me, do a deep dive into the beliefs of Flat Earthers, 9/11 Truthers, and QAnon followers. They’re intoxicatingly addictive.
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Confirmation Bias
Experts believe our tendency to fall into the trap of confirmation bias can lead some people to slip into a rabbit hole of conspiracies. The problem is especially prominent in the internet era, where people can find information that confirms whatever value they hold — and ignore any information that does not.
Every conspiracy theory is a gateway drug to an even more ludicrous and far-reaching conspiracy theory.
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