10 rules to determine if a conspiracy theory is true or false

Summary

This article by Michael Shermer, writing for Big Think, makes the following points:

• The variety of Conspiracy theories means it is difficult to assess a theory's validity.
• However, some are true, for example, 'Watergate'.
• As a general rule, if a theory requires thousands of people to keep quiet, then it is probably false.
• Michael Shermer—the writer of 'Why people believe Weird things'—provides a ten-point Conspiracy Detection Kit.

References

Recent Runway Posts related to this topic:

• CRITICAL THINKING 01: COLLECTION | The Runway (airforce.gov.au)

References from the Web:

• NOV 2020 An AI tool can distinguish between a conspiracy theory and a true conspiracy – it comes down to how easily the story falls apart—The Conversation
• NOV 2020 It's only fake-believe: how to deal with a conspiracy theorist—The Guardian

Source Information:

• Article Source: Big Think
• Media Check: Big Think - Media Bias Fact Check (mediabiasfactcheck.com)
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