Systems Thinking: An Antidote to Conspiracism?

In recent years, a confluence of events, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, increasing economic instability, global warming, and political corruption, have merged into a nested crisis. This tumultuous landscape, rife with uncertainties, is deeply unsettling. As the mainstream falls short in explaining these events, many people turn to alternative narratives in an attempt to understand what is happening. Social media, with its pervasive reach and its ever-growing presence in our lives, has become a fertile ground for such narratives to proliferate. The combination of accessibility and rapid dissemination of information, often bereft of critical evaluation, has catalysed an environment in which conspiracy theories thrive and tend to drown out more measured analysis.

The proliferation of conspiracism on social media serves as a backdrop to my engagement in online debates. My endeavours to challenge conspiracist narratives are frequently misinterpreted as dogmatic acceptance of mainstream views. Consequently, with this short article, I seek to dispel this notion and clarify my objective is not to negate unconventional ideas but to advocate for sound epistemology and open critical enquiry, which acknowledges understanding is fluid and evolving and encourages thinking beyond conventional norms, albeit in a formalised scientific manner. This…