[extropy-chat] Conspiracy Theory Theory [was peak oil theory]

[Curtis Sandoval]

I understand your reference, but a "conspiracy" is any two or more
entities that are working toward a common goal, it's a synonym for
"cooperation".  Conspiracy has a connotation that is not intrinsic to
its definition, that of a nefarious goal as you mention. It's just an
emotional tag that we apply to the word though, one that I believe is
fairly recent as I doubt that Felix Bernard had evil plans in mind
when he published "Winter Wonderland" in 1934.
   Corporations must conspire or they dissolve by the very definition,
and they behave like an organism whose goals are propagation and
shareholder equity among other things.  Price-fixing, etc, are some of
what I mentioned earlier, that not all corporations pursue legal means
to achieve their goals, but following the organism model they are just
practicing the law of survival and growth at any cost, game theory.
  The trick is keeping a safeguard to protect the greater organism
(the planet, humanity, etc) from the localised opportunism of its
subparts (corporations, bankers, petro-Krishnites, etc) not unlike
preventing the spread of cancer in a human body.  I agree with you,
that it is not "a conspiracy" that corporations exist to yield
shareholder returns, but individuals within the corporations must
conspire toward these ends as well as corporations that conspire
together for mutual benefit.
  One of my pet interests is semiotics, so maybe I think too much
about the difference between the meaning of a word and its
emotional/assumed meaning.  Ted Rall wrote an article recently about
how this is being used today, how certain people are calling Iraqis
who attack U.S. forces "Insurgents", while similar forces were called
"Freedom Fighters" when the U.S.S.R was in Afghanistan, and similar
forces were called "Rebels" and "Revolutionaries" during the American
and French revolutions.  Connotations are commonly used to colour the
image of what is being described, and as we all know the victors write
the history books.

On 4/25/05, Brian Lee <brian_a_lee at hotmail.com> wrote:
> I was referring to the larger scale/ crazy conspiracy theories that involve
> secret societies, government plans to hand over parks to the UN, lizard
> aliens running the British royal families etc.
> 
> I don't think it's any conspiracy that corporations are in existence to
> maximize shareholder returns. It just becomes a conspiracy when the oil
> barons are in cahoots with the five jew bankers to drive oil into the
> $500/barrel level to allow for the return of Krishna or something similar.
> 
> BAL
> 
> >From: Curtis Sandoval <curtis.sandoval at gmail.com>
> >To: dirk at neopax.com, ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
> >Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] Conspiracy Theory Theory [was peak oil theory]
> >Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 11:53:44 -0400
> >
> >I would take this a step further and suggest that every corporation or
> >corporate entity is a conspiracy, in that a conspiracy is merely an
> >attempt by a number of entities to act in concert toward a common end.
> >  Not every conspiracy has an illegal goal, and not every act of a
> >corporation is legal.  This crosses over into another thread then,
> >where "conspiracy theory" could merely mean "the study of
> >corporations", and this would be nearly synonymous with "game theory",
> >which tends to drive their actions.  This could be further extended to
> >consider conspiracies/corporations to be meta-organisms, merely
> >another life form made up of lower life forms (humans) as they behave.
> >
> >On a simpler note, the abbreviation "Co." could just as easily stand
> >for "conspiracy" as "corporation".
> >
> >On 4/25/05, Dirk Bruere <dirk at neopax.com> wrote:
> > > Brian Lee wrote:
> > >
> > > >
> > > > I think conspiracy theories are attractive because they show a
> > > > comforting worldview where someone/group is actually controlling the
> > > > seemingly chaotic and irrational events. This meshes into the whole
> > > > monotheistic mythos where God is in control.
> > > >
> > > Actually, there are plenty of conspiracies all vying with each other.
> > > A few are illegal but most are not.
> > >
> > > --
> > > Dirk
> > >
> > > The Consensus:-
> > > The political party for the new millenium
> > > http://www.theconsensus.org
> > >
> > > --
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