This study analyzes the politics of contemporary conspiracy theory discourses in the United States. Departing from the predominant methodological individualism that characterizes many contemporary analyses of conspiracy theory, which take the individual subject as the unit to be explained and governed, this study situates the production and proliferation of conspiracy theory discourses in the context of cybernetics and related transformations in politics that have tended to reduce democratic representativeness and increase forms of economic and political inequality. Cybernetics, which is often defined as the science of command and control, offers a series of concepts that facilitate an understanding of how freedom and control have become aligned in the second half of the 20th and early 21st centuries in the United States. I utilize Michel Foucault's governmentality approach to formulate a cybernetic governmentality methodology, which analyzes the governance of subjectivity in and through cybernetic systems of communication. Cybernetics, which seeks to invite the individual subject to realize itself through 'choice' and by way of its imbrication into machinic systems, conceptualizes the subject as a consumer and processor of information. I put forth the notion of the scripted political to analyze a key tension within contemporary U.S. politics, as politics is becoming increasingly uncertain yet also often appears to be strongly controlled by political and economic elites. Conspiracy theory, as a speculative genre of thinking, aims to steer events towards certain political ends. Conspiratorial speculation has become a popular means to connect and reflect on a felt obsolescence or superfluity on the part of the individual subject. To substantiate these arguments, I specifically analyze the discourses of QAnon and Covid-19 conspiracy theories. These discourses express political fantasies that often privilege the idea of a liberal autonomous individual subject. The politics of contemporary conspiracy theory in the United States thus concerns the fact that these conspiratorial discourses seek to perform a form of liberal subjectivity. However, this performance of individual liberal subjectivity is always caught in cybernetic systems of communication, which seek to produce value, harvest data, and maximize the attention of their 'users', thus undermining the potential for any meaningful form of liberal subjectivity. / Doctor of Philosophy / This study analyzes the politics of contemporary conspiracy theory discourses in the United States. Whereas today many scholars approach conspiracy theory as concerning the beliefs of individual subjects, whose thoughts are considered deviant and potentially requiring reform or monitoring, this study engages with conspiracy theory discourses and their conditions of possibility. While many acknowledge that conspiracy theory is a response to a felt loss of control, this notion of control is understood to be only potentially true or valid. Cybernetics, which is often defined as the science of command and control, offers a series of concepts that facilitate an understanding of how freedom and control have become aligned in the second half of the 20th and early 21st centuries in the United States. Cybernetics, which seeks to invite the individual subject to realize itself through 'choice' and by way of its imbrication into machinic and technological systems, conceptualizes the individual subject as a consumer and processor of information. I develop a new notion that I call the scripted political to study a key tension within contemporary U.S. politics, as politics is becoming increasingly uncertain yet also often appears to be strongly controlled by political and economic elites. Conspiracy theory is a speculative genre of thinking that is well-suited to produce social and political meaning in a condition of information saturation characteristic of today's social domain. It does so, among other things, by providing explanations about the operations of what many conspiracy theorists consider to be concentrated forms of power and by attempting to steer events towards certain desirable political ends. However, as a way of producing social and political meaning, conspiracy theory often misses the mark. Yet, despite its frequent factual inconsistencies, conspiratorial discourses and speculations have become popular means to create social connections and to reflect on a sense of obsolescence or superfluity felt by many individual subjects. To support these arguments, I focus on the conspiratorial discourses of and about QAnon and about the Covid-19 pandemic. These discourses express political fantasies that often privilege the idea of a liberal autonomous individual subject. However, I show in this study that fantasies about a re-empowered mode of individual liberal subjectivity are often caught in cybernetic systems of communication, which are more interested in producing economic value, harvesting all sorts of data about individual subjects, and maximizing the attention of their 'users', thus undermining the potential for any return to a meaningful form of liberal subjectivity.

The numerous and varied conspiracy theories which circulate in the contemporary discourse are subject to hyperstition, insofar as they are grouped into wider, more elaborate structures. Some of them become hierarchic to such a degree, that they may, in Michael Barkun's typology, be labeled as "superconspiracy" constructs. No author is more prolific and systematic in the crafting of these constructs than the guru of anglophone conspiracy theory belief, David Icke. The work attempts to keep as its object of study the work of David Icke and his "reptoid hypothesis," as it is effectively one of the most elaborate and baroque conspiracy theories which populate contemporary political discourse. It is Icke's oeuvre which this thesis attempts to recontextualize within the confines of critical social theory and Žižekian psychoanalysis. The existence of a "paranoid style" as professed by Richard J. Hofstadter can be noted throughout the history of western culture, from the Homeric gods, scheming behind the scenes, to its modern incarnations culminating in the superconspiracy constructs of David Icke, Alex Jones, and others. The work focuses not on specific conspiracy theories and their claim to facticity, but rather attempts to trace the structural features of Icke's construct and establish their underlying...

La méconnaissance du virus SARS-CoV-2 et une communication publique déficiente ont contribué à alimenter l’incertitude radicale depuis le début de la pandémie. Cette conjoncture est propice au déferlement de contre-discours dits « complotistes » dans les arènes numériques, théorisées ici en tant que « forums hybrides » (Callon, Lascoumes et Barthe, 2001). Les institutions publiques et médiatiques, en ostracisant ce contre-public et en privilégiant une approche épistémologique qui consiste à débusquer les informations problématiques qui circulent, échouent à comprendre la préférence d’une frange somme toute assez importante de la population pour les vérités dites « alternatives », relayées par des leaders éloquents et persuasifs, au détriment des preuves scientifiques. Alexis Cossette-Trudel, figure de proue du mouvement complotiste au Québec et en Europe francophone, propage sa « réinformation » sur les réseaux sociaux depuis 2017 et prétend dire vrai. D’abord peu populaire, la pandémie de COVID-19 l’a propulsé au « sommet ». Il est devenu le maître à penser de milliers de gens fâchés; des personnes qui le croient et qui se méfient des discours officiels, mettant ainsi la santé publique en péril. On est alors à même de se demander comment il y parvient. En analysant les formes médiatiques et alèthurgiques de son discours (à partir des modes de véridiction de Michel Foucault), l’intuition qui est explorée dans ce mémoire – et qui tend à se confirmer – est que le contexte d’incertitude pandémique offre à Cossette-Trudel les conditions de possibilité et de médialité qui, étroitement interreliées, lui permettent de poser et maintenir son ascendant au sein de son forum hybride ad hoc, témoignant du retour d’une (mauvaise) parrêsia politique. / The lack of knowledge about the SARS-CoV-2 virus and poor public communication have contributed to the radical uncertainty that has existed since the beginning of the pandemic. This situation is favorable to the outpouring of so-called conspiracy counter-discourses in digital arenas, theorized here as “hybrid forums” (Callon, Lascoumes and Barthe, 2001). Public and media institutions, by ostracizing this counter-public and by privileging an epistemological approach that consists of debunking problematic information that circulates, fail to understand the preference of a rather large fringe of the population for so-called “alternative” truths, relayed by eloquent and persuasive leaders, to the detriment of scientific evidence. Alexis Cossette-Trudel, a leading figure in the conspiracy movement in Quebec and French-speaking Europe, has been spreading his “reinformation” on social networks since 2017 and claims to be telling the truth. Initially not very popular, the COVID-19 pandemic has propelled him to the “top”. He has become the thought leader for thousands of angry people; people who believe him and distrust the official discourse, thus putting public health at risk. We can then ask ourselves how he achieves this. By analyzing the media and alethurgic forms of his discourse (based on Michel Foucault's modes of veridiction), the intuition that is explored in this memoir – and which tends to be confirmed – is that the context of pandemic uncertainty offers Cossette-Trudel the conditions of possibility and mediality which, closely interrelated, allow him to establish and maintain his ascendancy within his ad hoc hybrid forum, testifying to the return of a (bad) political parrêsia.

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This paper aims to provide the grounds for a biopsychosocial understanding of the underpinnings of conspiracy theorist ideation by studying research articles from different scientific disciplines. Cross-disciplinary concurring results are presented and discussed, as well as some examples of how conspiracy theories have been used during the 20th century. Also discussed is how this is used in political discourse in the populist climate of today, with the rise of radical right-wing movements, the justification of “alternative facts” from higher governmental ranks, and religious fundamentalism, making it a societal issue of possible big magnitude. Neurological similarities was found between religiousness and proneness to conspiracy theory ideation, and the articles concerning neural correlates therefore stem from research on religious individuals due to the lack of neuro-biopsychological research on actual conspiracy theorists. Since conspiracy theory ideation has shown the ability to cause negative consequences it is also advised that governmental agencies and society as a whole revise its stance on populism and the spread of flawed information, in order to maintain an open society. Also presented are a few ideas on how to begin countering the rise of populism.