Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id WAA04289 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Sun, 24 Mar 2002 22:10:05 GMT From: <AaronLynch@aol.com> Message-ID: <6f.24a35fcf.29cfa748@aol.com> Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 17:03:52 EST Subject: Authority figures To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: AOL 4.0 for Windows 95 sub 113 Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
In a message dated 3/17/2002 4:27:27 PM Central Standard
Time, AaronLynch@aol.com writes:
> Subj: Re: FW: MD Dawkins on quantum/mysticism convergence
> Date: 3/17/2002 4:27:27 PM Central Standard Time
> From: AaronLynch@aol.com
> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk
> Reply-to: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>
> In a message dated 3/17/2002 11:06:28 AM Central Standard
> Time, Douglas Brooker <dbrooker@clara.co.uk> writes:
>
> > Thanks for this.
> >
> > If I were conducting a study, my instinct would lead me to pay
> > special attention to what scientists participating in the 'love fest'
> > receive or perceive they receive from the mystical side. We can
> > understand the way the aura of science serves to enhance the
> > claims of mystics, but less understandable is what scientists receive
> > from the other side.
>
> Hi Douglas.
>
> There can be considerable financial and social incentive for
> scientists to sell out and join the "love fest." They may receive
> lucrative book deals, for instance. Moreover, many "nonfiction"
> books are actually conceived by literary agents, and that
> includes science books. The agents are often just looking
> for what will sell. So they may identify something that many
> people will want to believe when they read about it, or that they
> already believe or want to believe but would also like to see
> "justified" in "scientific" language. Scientists may also be drawn
> to the fame that can come from becoming an advocate for some
> mystical idea. And there are even rich prizes (e.g., Templeton)
> for connecting religion and science. All these sources of money
> and attention increase the formation rates of new ways of
> attaching science to mysticism, and then they increase the
> centralized transmissivity of the new idea combinations once
> formed.
>
> Attaching the name of an authority figure to a belief system
> also increases its transmissivity, receptivity, and longevity.
> (See my 2001 stock market thought contagions paper on
> that.) People feel more confident about voicing and
> retransmitting an idea that they can attribute to an authority
> figure. If the recipient of the message disagrees, the person
> transmitting the message can always blame the authority
> figure. They also realize that the listener/recipient of the
> message is likely to give more credence to a message
> attributed to an authority figure. That added credence then
> increases the receptivity that the message enjoys. Finally,
> it can make people more inclined to remember the message,
> increasing its longevity.
>
> Scientists who can be presented to the public as authority
> figures can therefore be offered especially lucrative book
> deals and other ways of profiting from the believers in
> mysticism. Many scientists are aware of this.
>
> --Aaron Lynch
>
> http://www.thoughtcontagion.com
The section on authority figures in my 2001 stock market
thought contagions article is quoted below. The phenomenon
relates to many subjects other than stock market thought
contagions, including pseudoscientific ideas.
"... When authority figures start retransmitting information that
was already spreading among non-authority figures, it gives
the impression that the information is "authoritative." However,
as thought contagions start spreading among non-authority
figures, chances of transmission into an authority figure rise
with the increasing host population. For highly contagious
ideas, it can be only a matter of time before transmission starts
to reach authority figures who have some receptivity to the idea.
Once one of those authority figures is converted, he or she can
play the role of grand disseminator-spreading the idea through
ready access to centralised communication, by ability to influence
other authority figures, and by the greater receptivity usually
accorded to messages coming from authority figures. Meanwhile,
authority figures do not always announce what ideas they might
have learned non-authorities. So the simple contagiousness of an
idea can play a larger role in its popularity than is readily
apparent-even in many cases when the idea appears to spring
from the better judgment of an authority figure.
Once a thought contagion spreads to an authority figure, it can
enjoy rapidly accelerated transmission that further obscures the
role of its original contagiousness. The most contagious strains
may become ones that attribute the information to the first authority
figure who expressed it, rather than to any non-authority figures
from whom it propagated to the authority figure. The original idea
plus attribution to the authority figure can enjoy more receptivity
than the original idea alone, even when spreading by word of mouth
among non-authority figures. This is due to the wide credence
placed in authority figures. Interest in talking about authority figures
can also cause the ideas associated with them to be discussed more
often, adding to transmissivity as well. People may also feel more
willing to articulate a belief if they feel they can blame an authority
figure in case the belief is wrong-possibly raising transmissivity
still more.
Authority figures often do originate widely disseminated ideas, or
select attention-worthy ideas coming from previously
"non-authoritative" sources. Yet the dissemination by authority
figures can at times be set in motion by earlier contagion factors
that are not always conspicuous or truth-contingent. Those earlier
contagion factors may continue to play an amplifying and sustaining
role even after authority figures become involved. This can include
transmission among authority figures as well as transmission among
people who trust "ordinary folks" more than financial authorities. ..."
As quoted from Lynch, A., "Thought Contagions in the Stock Market:
A General Introduction and Focus on the Internet Bubble" published
in Derivatives Use, Trading, and Regulation Vol 6, #3, and online at
http://www.thoughtcontagion.com/InternetBubbleContagion.pdf.
--Aaron Lynch
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