Conspiracy Theories and how to fight them

This project is in the process of accumulating links to books and articles about conspiracy theories.

Conspiracy theories are everywhere today, and they are a threat both to society as a whole and to the scientific community. This project is a compendium of books and other sources of information on how to make things better.

• Book review: The Intelligence Trap by David Robson
  • a great book on how even intelligent people have blind spots and get things wrong
  • Robson has some constructive suggestions for avoiding the traps - and it is more than just vague statements like “teach critical thinking skills”
• Book review: An Ugly Truth by Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang
  • an outline of the many problems with Facebook - in particular, how it has been used for misinformation
  • the book is pretty scary - a good look at the arrogant side of high-tech leaders
• Book review: How to Talk to a Science Denier by Lee McIntyre
  • an outline of some approaches to discuss topics like climate change denial with people who don’t believe in what the experts say
  • many science deniers resist the truth because their beliefs have become part of their “identity”
  • the approaches that are advocated by McIntyre are still a “work in progress”
  • doing nothing about science deniers is not a good option
  • there are no guarantees, but McIntyre believes that an effective way to fight science denial is “technique rebuttal” (show how the anti-science arguments rely on cherry-picked data, fake experts, faulty reasoning, and impossibly high standards of scientific proof)