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What are arguments against conspiracies about 5 men that run the US?
I know this might sound like a silly question, but I constantly find myself in heated debates/exchanges with people that honestly believe that there is a small cabal of (say 5 - 6) men that secretly 'pull all the strings' behind the scenes.
What are some arguments I can use to actually convince them that that is impossible or just not true?
- aurem1 16y agoextreme claims have low probability of being correct. For example, I am not sure that it is impossible due to laws of physics for 5-6 men to pull all the strings, but common sense would tell you it is extremely unlikely. If your friends don't see that, nothing you can say will convince them otherwise, so just don't engage in pointless debates :)
- mindcrime 16y agoGet them to read some books on complexity theory and emergent behavior; convince them that real life is definitely a "complex system" and point out that no group of 5-6 men could possibly control the emergent behavior of such a system. There are just too many independent, autonomous agents competing to fulfill their own desires and interests. The lack of knowledge alone would be enough to ensure that such a thing couldn't happen. Now that's not to say that there aren't cabals of people who do wield influence over certain things, or cabals of people who want to control things, or who think they control things. Take the group of bankers who run the Fed, for example... that's a fairly small group of people who have a fair amount of ability to influence things (in the US anyway). But that's still far removed from the kind of detailed control that the conspiracy theorists usually talk about.
- zoomzoom 16y agoYou will never disprove a conspiracy a priori. I think that what you need to do is ask them what the best evidence for a conspiracy is, and then provide a rational explanation that does not require a conspiracy. Them, go down the list of suspicions that they have and do the same.