Slate Star Codex
Prospiracy Theories
Read the original ↗Archive summary
Scott Alexander introduces 'prospiracy theories', positive conspiracy-style memes designed to spread true and beneficial information, in response to the rapid spread of conspiracy theories on social media.
Summary from Read Scott Alexander; separate from the original essay.[Title from this unrelated story or this unrelated essay]
Last week I wrote about how conspiracy theories spread so much faster on Facebook than debunkings of those same theories. A few commenters chimed in to say that of course this was true, the conspiracy theories had evolved into an almost-perfect form for exploiting cognitive biases and the pressures of social media. Debunkings and true beliefs couldn’t copy that process, so they were losing out.
This sounded like a challenge, so here you go:
Written by Scott Alexander. Support the writing →
Source snapshot: 2026-10-18. Likes unavailable · 261 comments; counts at capture, no local voting or comments. Listen to the podcast externally ↗