Page 44 - Psychoceramics and the Test of Fire

Cabalocracy and the Hall of Mirrors

confirmation bias—the favoring and disfavoring of information
according to a premature conclusion. Before one even begins that
empirical investigation, however, one must nevertheless have some
understanding of possible alternatives and the standards of proof to
be applied. If this is not done, one risks entering that notorious hall
of mirrors leading to stasis, misinterpretation and, for some, descent
into megalomaniacal obsession.”
I cupped my chin with my right hand, a generally accepted sign of
rapt attention and deep cogitation, and nodded slowly.
“In other words,” continued the unkempt seer of anthropogenic
horrors, “we should clear the decks before rolling out the cannon;
otherwise they might break loose when the sea gets rough. The decks
are your theoretical underpinnings, the cannon your investigative
tools, the sea the data. So, what have we to establish first? In my
view, it is the assumptions under which we labor. A conspiracy, by
definition a group effort, is logically either ad hoc or ongoing—
possibly extending over centuries. What does that tell us, without
further examination? Again, conspiracies, regardless of scale or
duration, success or failure, remain hidden or are exposed. Grasping
these binary distinctions is basic. Why? History already provides
examples for categorization. A working knowledge of human nature
and notions of game theory and the entropic forces working on all
complex systems also prepare us to look at any purported theory with
eyes unburdened by the scales of fallacious reasoning and emotional
distortion. That is where my theory, if it may be called that, gets
underway.”
He looked at me. Had he said anything substantive? I didn’t know,
but I was supposed to be as interested in this topic as in drawing my
next breath. From those possible alternatives I chose to inhale first.
Then I said, “That background seems essential, I must agree. Yet
even there, on what should be a level playing field, no two people are
equipped equally. That is why most of us willingly accept the
authority of someone who can display the credentials of a polymath.
It seems to me that the sine qua non of a conspiracy theory is making
connections between disparate data derived from different
disciplines: science and technology, politics and institutional history,
financial analysis, cultural and psychological theory. None of that
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