Conspirativismo digital y demarcación científica: un acercamiento desde la etnografía virtual

Abstract

Conspiracy theories have enjoyed exponential growth in the last decade thanks to their viralisation through dierent digital platforms such as Telegram. These conspiracy communities have been criticized by classical philosophers such as Popper and Bunge for their abandonment of any form of scientificity. However, a detailed study of current conspiracy communities reveals that in such communities science ultimately retains epistemic authority. In the light of a historical análisis of the problem of demarcation since the Vienna Circle, in this essay we will develop how conspiratorial communities fallaciously redraw the boundaries demarcating science according to political rather tan epistemic criteria, as well as employing science terminologically for the defense of certain ideologies. Subsequently, we relate this new demarcation to emerging phenomena in social networks such as post-truth, conceptual windows or epistemic bubbles, highlighting their link with the vices associated with these conspiratorial communities. After that, we approach from a virtual ethnography to a conspiratorial Telegram group dedicated to the criticism of the 2030 Agenda, which considers it a hidden plot for the control of the population through ’scientific deceptions such as climate change or pandemics. Finally, following this critique, we propose certain transformations of the conventional science of social and feminist epistemology in order to reconfigure a public image of science that avoids the generation of this type of community or, at least, neutralizes it in the social imaginary.