Arvin Hampton

What do the daily swings of the stock market, 9/11, Europe’s migrant crisis, and trade deals between weapon manufacturers and governments have in common? We have good, non-conspiratorial explanations for all of them that, in turn, cohere with the rest of our best explanations from history, economics, institutional dynamics, and memetics (culture). The conspiracist insists that ‘what we’re told’ about any of the above is ‘not the real story’, that they are instead explained by the schemes of a secret cabal that places its own interests ahead of the public’s. They invoke additional ontological baggage to explain events for which we already have a non-conspiratorial explanation. They invoke the conspiracy but never do the work of resolving the role of this cabal with all of the rest of our understanding of society. ~Conjecture Institute Cofounder @astupple & President @ChipkinLogan