presentation of alternative theories

The Rise of Alternative Development Approaches: From Theory to Action

Table of Contents

Have you ever wondered if the ‘one size fits all’ approach to development is truly effective? It’s no secret that traditional models focused on economic growth have often overlooked the unique cultural, social, and environmental contexts of communities. But there’s a shift happening – a move towards alternative development approaches that honor the complexities of human societies. This blog delves into the emergence of these transformative theories and how they’re reshaping the way we think about progress.

Questioning the status quo: The critique of growth-oriented models

For decades, development was synonymous with economic growth. Yet, as time passed, critical voices emerged, challenging the presumption that increased GDP equates to improved well-being for all. Experts pointed out the discrepancies: growing inequalities , environmental degradation , and cultural erosion . These critiques laid the groundwork for a new understanding of development, one that goes beyond mere economic indicators.

People at the center: The concept of endogenous development

Imagine a development model that starts from within the community, utilizing local knowledge, resources, and aspirations. This is endogenous development – a paradigm that empower s communities to shape their own destinies. It’s about harnessing the potential that already exists within a society and aligning development strategies with the community’s inherent strengths and values.

Community-driven priorities: Unlike top-down approaches, endogenous development is bottom-up, reflecting the priorities and needs as defined by the community members themselves.
Local knowledge and practices: It recognizes the wealth of indigenous knowledge and traditional practices that are often sidelined in mainstream development initiatives.

Participation is key: Embracing participatory methods

Central to alternative development is the idea of participation. Participatory methods involve community members at every stage – from planning to implementation and evaluation. This collaborative approach ensures that development interventions are attuned to the real issues and opportunities as identified by those who will be most affected by them.

Empowering local voices: By actively involving local stakeholders, participatory methods empower individuals and communities, fostering a sense of ownership and responsibility.
Democratizing decision-making: These methods democratize the development process, breaking down traditional power hierarchies and giving a voice to the often-marginalized groups.

Celebrating culture: Integrating local culture into development

Culture is the lifeblood of any community, shaping identities, values, and worldviews. Alternative development approaches recognize the importance of integrating local culture into development strategies. This cultural sensitivity ensures that development is not only sustainable but also respectful and affirming of the community’s way of life.

Respecting cultural diversity: Recognizing the diversity of cultures and the need to preserve them is key to maintaining the social fabric and identity of communities.
Culture as a resource: Viewing culture as a resource, rather than an obstacle, allows for innovative solutions that are more likely to be accepted and sustained by the community.

From theory to action: Implementing sustainable development strategies

How do these concepts translate into real-world action? The shift from theory to practice involves rethinking conventional metrics of success and embracing more holistic measures of development. It requires patience, adaptability, and a commitment to long-term outcomes. Many communities have begun to adopt these strategies, leading to development that is not only more equitable and just but also more environmentally sustainable and culturally appropriate.

Case studies of success: There are numerous examples worldwide where communities have thrived by applying alternative development approaches, from microfinance projects in Bangladesh to agroecology movements in Latin America.
Challenges and adaptations: Implementing these strategies is not without its challenges, requiring continuous learning and adaptation. Yet, the resilience and ingenuity of communities often lead to innovative solutions.

The emergence of alternative development approaches offers a refreshing perspective on what it means to progress. By putting people and their cultural contexts at the heart of development, we can foster an environment where growth is measured not just in economic terms, but in the wellbeing of communities and the preservation of their ways of life. This paradigm shift from a growth-centric to a people-centric model of development is not just an academic exercise; it’s a movement towards a more equitable and sustainable future for all.

What do you think? Have you seen examples of these alternative development approaches in action? How do you believe integrating local culture can impact the sustainability of development projects?

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Sociology of Development

1 Development and Progress-Economic and Social Dimensions

Understanding of Development and Progress
Comte, Morgan, Marx and Spencer on Development and Progress
Tonnies, Durkheim, Weber, Hobhouse, and Parsons on Development and Progress
Development as Growth, Change and Modernisation
Capitalist, Socialist and Third World Models of Development
Development: Social and Human Dimensions
Paradigm Shift in Development Strategies

2 Change, Modernisation and Development

Social Change: Concept Characteristics and Causes
Perspective of Social Change
Modernisation: Concept and Features
Perspectives On Modernisation
Critics of Modernisation Theories
Development: Conditions and Barriers

3 Social, Human and Gender Development

Development as Realisation of Human Potential
Impact of Development on Women
Women as a Constituency in Development Policies
Identification of Gender Need Role and Strategy
Perspectives on Women and Development

4 Sustainable Development

Sustainable Development: Historical Context
Sustainable Development: Genesis and Evolution
Concept of Sustainable Development as Defined in Our Common Future (1987)
Criticisms of the Concept of Sustainable Development
Globalisation and Future of Sustainable Development

5 Modernisation

Understanding Modernisation
Giddens’s Theory of Modernity
Decline of the Paradigm
Postmodernism
Modernisation and Globalisation

6 Liberal Perspective on Development

Liberalism as an Ideology
Streams of Liberal Thought
Evolution of Liberal State
Addressing Social Inequality
The Welfare State
Emergence of Neo-Liberalism
Criticism of the Liberal Perspective

7 Marxian Perspective on Development

Marxian Idea of Development
Capitalism Class Relations and Development
Marx’s Plan of Action
Neo-Marxian Approach: World-Systems Analysis
Critical Theory: Frankfurt School

8 Gandhian Perspective on Development

Khadi and Village Industries
Economic Progress and ‘Real Progress’
Alternative Viewpoint

9 Dependency Theory of Underdevelopment

Dependency Theory: The Beginning
How Can One Define Dependency Theory?
Structural Context of Dependency: Is it Capitalism or is it Power?
The Central Propositions of Dependency Theory
The Policy Implications of Dependency Analysis
Critics of Dependency Theory
Relevance of Dependency Theories

10 Social and Human Development

Growth Models of Economic Development
Criticism of Growth Oriented Theories of Development: The Need for a Holistic Perspective
The Human Development Reports: From Income to Cultural Freedom
What is Human Development?
Measuring Human Development
Critical Evaluation of Human Development Approach

11 Gender Perspective on Development

The Concept of Gender
Women Gender and Development
Gender and the Constitution: Women in India
Development Planning in India
Policy and Planning for Women

12 Micro-Planning

The Concept Need and Objectives
The Background of Micro-Planning in India
Approach and Strategies
Advancement of Primary Education through Micro-Planning
Micro-Planning: The Need for a Holistic Approach

13 Ecology, Environment and Development

Ecology and Sustainable Development
Environmental Concerns and Contemporary Social Theory
Consequences of Development on Ecology and Environment
Ecology Movements and Survival
Development Projects as Ecological Concerns
Internationalisation of Environmental Concerns
Participatory Approach for the Management of Natural Resources

14 Ethno-Development

New Concerns in Development Theories
Emergence of Alternative Approaches
Methodology of Ethno-development

15 Population and Development

Historical Background
The Politics of Population Control: Environment and Gender
India: The Population Experience and Developmental Concerns
The Path of Development
Stagnation of Indian Economy
Post-Independence Phase of Development
The Present Scenario: Liberalisation Privatisation and Globalisation
ICT Revolution in India
Poverty Estimates and Poverty Eradication Measures During the Reform Period
Development and Social Sectors
Economic History of Canada
Canadian Economy — An Overview
Emergence of Economic Nationalism
Macdonald Commission: Future Economic Prospects
Economic and Social Indicators
Relations with India

18 Zimbabwe

Historical and Socio-economic Background
Southern African Regional Perspective
Contemporary Political Scenario
Zimbabwe’s Economic Development Policies (1991-2001)
Poverty Alleviation Strategies
Indigenisation of the Economy
Post Independence Development Scenario — An Overview
A General Background
People and History
Brazilian Economy
Brazil’s Trading Partners
Government and Politics
Environmental Issues
The Social Challenges

20 Economic, Social and Cultural Dimensions of Globalisation

The Concept and Definition of Globalisation
The Features of Present Day Globalisation
Economic Dimensions of Globalisation
Social Dimension of Globalisation
Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)

21 Liberalisation and Structural Adjustment Programme

Defining the Terms
Internal Political Crisis
External Crisis
Liberalisation and the Current Account Deficit
The Official Crisis Management Schema
Revenue Issues
External Sector
Economic Reforms — An Appraisal

22 Globalisation, Privatisation and Indigenous knowledge

Globalisation Liberalisation and Free Trade
World Trade Organisation (WTO)
Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs)
Domination of the Developed North in WTO
Implications of TRIPs for the Third World Countries
Indigenous Knowledge and Biopiracy
Protection of Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge

23 WTO, GATT, GATS- Capital and Human Flows

Social Development, Globalisation and Trade Agreements
World Trade Organisation (WTO): Origin
World Trade Organisation: Functions Principles and Scope
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)
Trade Liberalisation: The Emerging Concerns for Developing Countries
Implication for Health and Education

24 Dimensions of Knowledge Society- Issues of Access and Equity

Technological Transformation and Human Progress
The Emergence of Information and Knowledge Society
What is Knowledge/Information Society?
Knowledge Economy and Knowledge Workers in a Knowledge Society
Skill Acquisition and Training for Work in Knowledge Society
ICT Infrastructure and Knowledge Dissemination

25 Critique of Knowledge Society

Criticisms of Knowledge Society
A Critical Appraisal of Discourses on Web-based Knowledge Dispersal
The Digital Divide in Knowledge Society
Divide in Employment Accessibility

26 Changing Roles of Media and ICTs on Employment

The Evolution of Mass Media
Mass Media and Globalisation
Internet as Mass Media
ICTs — The Convergence of Information and Communication Technologies
ICTs Boosted Service Economy
ICTs and Employment Opportunities

27 Dam and Displacement

Dams and Development: Background
Arguments Against Large Dams
Arguments For Large Dams
Dams and Displacement: Persons and Values
Experiments with Alternatives to Large Dams

28 Green Peace Movement

The Emergence and Growth of the Organisation
Green Peace Movements: Objectives
Green Peace Movements: Global Avenues of Action

29 People Science Movement

Genesis and Aim
A Brief History
Some Fundamental Issues
Activities of PSMs
Some Prominent PSMs in India

30 Civil Society Movements and Grassroots Initiatives

Civil Society: Meanings and Dimensions
Civil Society as Social Movements
Non-Governmental Organisations as Civil Society Actors
Relationship Between NGOs and the Government
Marginalisation and the Marginalised People
Civil Society and Empowerment of the Marginalised
Civil Society Movements: A Critique

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لماذا تعتبر قضية فلسطين قضية نسوية ومناهضة للاستعمار؟
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Por que a Palestina é uma questão feminista e anticolonial

Developing Economics

A critical perspective on development economics, what can we learn from alternative theories of economic development.

As people across the world are struggling to understand the rise of Trumpism, anti-establishment and anti-free trade movements, Erik Reinert (Tallinn University of Technology), Jayati Ghosh (Jawaharlal Nehru University) and Rainer Kattel (Tallinn University of Technology) have put together an impressive Handbook of Alternative Theories of Economic Development that can help make sense of what’s going on. As the field of Economics has become increasingly narrow since the 1970s, many important scholars and theories have been excluded from the field, and since forgotten. This Handbook presents rich historical accounts and ideas that can help explain economic and social development, and is a much needed attempt to correct for the existing biases in the field of Economics.

The Biases in Economics In addition to the strong bias towards Neoclassical Economics, the editors also identify Eurocentric and Anglophone biases in the field. The linguistic bias can also be found in the history of thought, as scholars who did not originally write in English tend to be squeezed out of historical accounts of economic ideas. For example, while only 18 out of 62 (29%) influential economic development books (books that reached more than 10 editions) in 1850 were written by scholars from the United Kingdom, in the history of economic thought chapter of the Handbook of Development Economics (1988) published by two World Bank economists, all the references are to works originally written in English by people living in the UK, with the exception of Irish born Richard Cantillion, who wrote in French.

The linguistic and geographic dominance that economists wrongly attribute to the past is unfortunately very much the case today. According to Google Scholar, the top ten most cited economists are based in just a handful of US schools, with the exception of Jean Tirole at Toulouse, France. Paradoxically, the Economics field has become more geographically and linguistically concentrated, despite globalization. The chapters in the Handbook address this bias by including authors from across the world, as well as chapters dedicated to schools of thought with non-Western origins, including China, India, Latin America and Africa.

Putting Development Back Into Development Economics While Neoclassical Economics started absorbing Development Economics in the 1970s, in the 1980s there was a related shift from the study of development processes to the study of poverty (see figure 1). Unfortunately, even the focus on poverty alleviation takes a very limited view of poverty and how it is generated, as it abstracts from basic economic processes and systemic features that determine poverty. For example, class is usually absent from the discussion, except for in the form of “social discrimination” (with the economic content of class removed). Furthermore, the symptoms of poverty are addressed, such as lack of income, poor nutrition, bad housing, lack of access to basic services, etc, rather than the structural causes of poverty. Finally, the role of the rich in society is not usually considered in the analysis of the poor, as if they are not interconnected. The editors call the current discourse that promises free trade and measures against the poverty that results from free trade a form of “welfare colonialism” (see e.g. Reinert 2006 and Paine 1977 ).

Figure 1: The Decline of Development in Development Economics

The editors also emphasize the increasing focus on methods in the field of development economics, rather than theory and history ( in line with my own observation ). The editors argue that the field has developed into a tool-driven profession , where the tools determine the types of questions that are possible to ask as well as the type of analysis possible to carry out. For example, as pointed out by Viner (1937) , increasing returns was removed from international trade theory because it was not compatible with equilibrium. As Paul Krugman (1991) puts it: Economics came to “follow the line of least mathematical resistance ”.

The editors also find that the basic fact of uneven development tends to be reduced to models of “dualism,” which implies less attention to the differentiation internal to sectors, and patterns of interaction of different groups of classes within and across sectors. Furthermore, when it is discovered that certain institutions are different from “the norm” in developing countries, they are highlighted and explained using the same basic analytical tools developed for the norm. This type of Economics is what the editors call a National Geographic view of the broader process of development, as only snapshots of particular institutions or economic activities are separated for the analysis.

This handbook is an effort to reverse these trends by putting development back into development economics and by not letting a limited mathematical toolkit dictate which theoretical frameworks are acceptable.

What can we learn from alternative theories? So, what can we actually learn from these theories? Perhaps the most important lesson to draw is the importance of considering historical and political context when analyzing development issues. The book is rich with examples and historical studies of development processes that we can learn from. For example, alternative ways of viewing the role of rent-seeking in development are discussed. While mainstream development economists tend to present rent-seeking as a drain on wealth and economic efficiency (see e.g. Anne Krueger 1974 ), chapters in this Handbook suggest that rent-seeking historically has gone hand in hand with economic development.

Furthermore, the alternative theories acknowledge that development is related to structural transformation, rather than just poverty alleviation. Many chapters discuss how moving into higher value-added activities has been a core element in successful development experiences, often through targeted policies aimed at stimulating innovation and technological development.

You can also learn a lot about specific issues from the chapters in the Handbook, such as effective demand, development planning, competitiveness, late development, the developmental state, knowledge governance, legal structures, deindustrialization, terrorism, technological retrogression, and more. The volume also takes historical development processes seriously and has devoted the first part of the book to the study of historical development, including Chinese, Indian, Muslim, Ottoman, Nordic, and African perspectives. Finally, seminal development economists such as Giovanni Botero, Friedrich List, Karl Marx, Albert Hirchman and Michal Kalecki are discussed in depth, as well as broader traditions such as feminist approaches, Schumpeterian and Keynesian approaches, the dependency school, regulation theory, classical economists, and evolutionary economists. This book will be interesting for anyone seeking to expand and deepen their understanding of economic development beyond what is taught in mainstream courses.

Cyclicality in Economic Thinking: A Reason for Optimism? The editors also study the development of economic theory and argue that there is a cyclical pattern in the level of economic abstraction: When things go well in the core economies of the world where economic theory is generally produced, economic theory tends to become very abstract. As a result of this high level of abstraction, the role of policy is minimized.

You find many highly abstract assumptions in neoclassical economic theory, such as the assumption that economic activities are qualitatively equal (see Reinert 2009 for a longer discussion on this and James Buchanan on the equality assumption ). However, to take the example presented by the editors: a shoe-shining business of a child in Lima and Bill Gates’ business in the US are qualitatively different, and that difference is crucial for understanding development processes. To understand why Microsoft’s profits are higher than that of the shoe-shiner, real-world “imperfect” issues such as barriers to entry, technological change, and oligopoly power become key. Consequentially, the editors argue that neoclassical economics operates at a level of abstraction that is too high to grasp the relevant variables for development. Equality and harmony in the models produce equality and harmony in the results. However, anyone observing the real world can see that it isn’t harmonious, let alone equal.

Interestingly, the editors argue that we are currently witnessing a new cycle of economic fashion in the form of a new revolt against formalism. As there has been a recent revolt against mainstream macroeconomics from within (e.g. Paul Romer and Olivier Blanchard ) and a growing student movement demanding a more pluralist Economics education , we can only hope that some room is opening up for alternative economic theories.

Ingrid Harvold Kvangraven is a PhD student in Economics at The New School.

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> The Skills of Argument
> Alternative theories

Book contents

Frontmatter
Acknowledgments
1 Introduction
2 Causal theories
3 Evidence to support theories
4 Alternative theories
5 Counterarguments
6 Rebuttals
7 Epistemological theories
8 Evaluation of evidence
9 The role of expertise
10 Conclusion
Appendix 1 Main interview
Appendix 2 Coding procedures
Appendix 3 Summary of statistical analyses
Appendix 4 Causal line frequencies

4 - Alternative theories

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2011

In this chapter we examine subjects' ability to generate an alternative theory to their own – a theory that might be held by someone who disagreed with them and thought their theory was wrong. Note that this is a different dimension than the one that appears in chapter 2. There we found that a number of subjects express two (or more) alternative theories, endorsing both as conceivable explanations for the phenomenon. The question addressed in this chapter is whether a subject is able to conceive of a contrasting theory – one that someone who disagrees with the subject might cite. Can subjects identify what would constitute an alternative to what they themselves believe – something they conceive not to be a cause of the phenomenon?

This question is an important one. The pseudoevidence scripts examined in chapter 3 suggest the possibility that a scenario of events leading to school failure or return to crime may be regarded simply as “the way it happens,” without regard for the possibility that it could be otherwise. Hence, it is important to know whether subjects are able to conceive of alternative theories to their own, and it is also of interest to examine the relation between this ability and the reliance on pseudoevidence that we found so prevalent in chapter 3.

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Alternative theories
Deanna Kuhn
Book: The Skills of Argument
Online publication: 03 May 2011
Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511571350.004

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The Role of Alternative Theories and Anomalous Evidence in Children's Scientific Belief Revision

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1 University of Toronto.
PMID: 33378117
DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13481

Children's naive theories include misconceptions which can interfere with science learning. This research examined the effect of pairing anomalies with alternative theories, and their order of presentation, on children's belief revision. Children believe that heavy objects sink and light ones float. In a pre-, mid-, and post-test design, 5-year-olds (N = 96) were assigned to one of two conditions, where they were either exposed to an alternative theory about buoyancy and then observed anomalies (Explanation-First), or the reverse (Anomalies-First). At mid-test, children were more likely to revise their beliefs after exposure to an alternative theory than anomalies alone. At post-test, children revised their naïve belief when they had access to an alternative theory before the anomalous evidence than in the opposite order.

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CHAPTER 17: Alternative Approaches to Counseling Theories

Jan 03, 2020

160 likes | 167 Views

CHAPTER 17: Alternative Approaches to Counseling Theories. Developing Multicultural Counseling Competence: A Systems Approach Second Edition Danica G. Hays and Bradley T. Erford. Culture and Theory. Theoretical orientation changes with more experience

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CHAPTER 17:Alternative Approaches to Counseling Theories Developing Multicultural Counseling Competence: A Systems Approach Second Edition Danica G. Hays and Bradley T. Erford

Culture and Theory • Theoretical orientation changes with more experience • Culture & theory sometimes at odds with one another • Theory cannot encompass all of human experience, or account for all thoughts, behaviors, feelings, or contexts that attribute to individuals’ identities • Theory provides counselors with starting points with their clients • “Theoretical orientation” provides both our rationale and our action

Worldview Shaping Counseling • Most do not give thought to their philosophical or theoretical approach to life • During crisis, most however discover their motivation for living their personal theory for life, or worldviews. • 5 value orientations of worldview: • Human Nature • Person/Nature relations • Social Relations • Time Sense • Human Activity • Basic assumptions that counselors use to create & support their approaches to counseling

Worldview to Theory • From the foundation of personal worldviews, individuals begin to make sense out of their lives & account for the contexts in which they live • A counselor’s worldview can affect personal philosophy & theoretical orientation • Despite its reported comprehensiveness, a counseling theory will work with particular clients under particular conditions • Understand the worldview of clients as well as the worldview of theories and try to balance the two

Alternative Sources of Theory • Counseling theories have specific definitions for mental health and parameters for typical mental functioning, impacts diverse clients • Without some shared understanding of mental health, no counseling theory can be effective • In many cultures, the practice of counseling is relatively unknown, and the notion of mental health is incorporated into other social systems (e.g., religion, familial relationships) • These social systems influence people’s beliefs about what it means to function “normally”

Religion & Spirituality • May be considered the greatest unifier & the greatest divider of people • Directly influence a person’s worldview in ways that affect how the person defines mental health • When applying a particular theory, it is important to consider how that theory interacts with clients’ beliefs about the divine • Consider how clients conceptualize notions of the divine in their lives • A simple understanding between counselor and client about the role of the divine can potentially lead to major differences in the perceptions of mental health

Government • In many ways, particular forms of government are direct expressions of worldviews • How democracy is represented • Differences between political parties • There are approximately 9 forms of government outside of the U.S. • Laws are created to support the structure of government and to reinforce the lifestyle choices for the governed • Governments set parameters for what it means to be an accepted member of society, and, by extension how functional mental health is defined

Family • Has the greatest potential for shaping notions of mental health • Serves as a filter for other social systems • Understanding family roles in a particular society will provide counselors with information about mental health and definitions of functional and dysfunctional relationships • Explore how clients act within their own families • How do clients’ behaviors compare to others in the family? What roles are clients expected to play in their family? What is the role of ancestors in the family culture?

Traditional Theoretical Approaches to Counseling • Traditional counseling theories are abundant in the counseling literature and characterized by first three forces of counseling • Original target client and limitations • Evolution of a grand theory in counseling • Integrates all dimensions of human experience into a single overarching theoretical framework • Coincide with the three forces of counseling

Culturally Responsive Use of Traditional Theories • Involves the counselor’s awareness of own cultural identity and the cultural contexts of approach to counseling • Demonstrate flexibility in approach • Eclectic or integrative approaches • Theoretical adaptation • General guidelines that counselors use to adapt particular theories • Illuminate Assumptions • Identify Limitations • Simplify Concepts • Diversify Interventions

Culturally Responsive Counseling Theories • The fourth force is supported by constructivist paradigms and contextual/systemic models • Supports and encourages what Gilligan (1982) termed alternative ways of knowing • Flexibility should be in the conceptualization of alternative explanations for psychic distress and the use of alternative ways to heal that distress • Range from evolved progeny of previous theories to traditional healing practices

Multicultural Counseling & Therapy (MCT) • Has been presented as a meta-theory • Many of the conceptual models have been part of indigenous healing practices (e.g., feminism, Afrocentric theory, Naikan, and indigenous healing practices) • 6 propositions: • MCT is an integrative meta-theory • Counselor and client identities are formed based on differing levels of experience and context • Cultural identity development important • Consistency of approaches with client values • Traditional approach to counseling is only one strategy • Liberation of consciousness is a basic goal

Naikan • Formalized & structured method of self-reflection intended to provide clients with understanding about their relationships with others and themselves • Emphasizes familial and social obligations and sustaining the harmony of social order • Meditative self-reflection is guided by 3 questions: • 1. What have I received from _________; • 2. What have I given to _____________; • 3. What troubles or difficulties have I caused ____________. • Goal of reflection is self-in-relation • Effective in treating a variety of issues (e.g., anxiety, alcoholism, Anorexia Nervosa)

Morita Therapy • Shares some similarities with Naikan and is often used in conjunction with Naikan • Overall approach can be described as purpose-centered, response-oriented, and active • Stresses building clients’ character in order to empower them to accept and respond to their life regardless of the circumstances • Clients’ behaviors will be emphasized more than thoughts or feelings and their decision-making will be influenced by purpose rather than intuition

Ntu Psychotherapy • Based on an African conceptual system and worldview • Energy is presumed to be essential to the therapeutic process and becomes the focus of the approach • As the Ntu is increased, so is the well-being of the client and vice versa • The function of counselors in Ntu psychotherapy is that of a spiritual guide • Contextual assumptions • 5 distinct phases: Harmony, Awareness, Alignment, Actualization, and Synthesis

Alternative Therapies • Counselors are focusing on the ways that mind, body, and spirit intersect • Meditation • Yoga therapy • Ayurveda • Buddhist psychology • Indigenous ways of knowing (IWOK)

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Alternative Theories of the Firm

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Peter J. Curwen

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We have previously developed the traditional models of perfect competition and monopoly, the nature of which were first expounded in the nineteenth century in order to describe the way in which firms actually behaved at that time. We also discussed the fact that the modern theory of oligopoly is not at present readily utilisable for the purpose of analysing the behaviour of firms. Thus the traditional models are the only generally accepted ways of describing how firms behave even today, a century or so after they were first formulated. Nevertheless the models are both limiting cases of competition, either describing markets where no one firm has any control over price, or markets completely dominated by a single firm. The most cursory study of the post-war structure of industry reveals that there are very few such markets to be found. Hence one cannot help but conclude that the traditional models no longer reflect reality. It is our intention in the pages which follow to consider attempts which have been made to make the theory of the firm more realistic, in order to discover whether any alternative theory to the classical models can justifiably be adopted in their place.

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Curwen, P.J. (1974). Alternative Theories of the Firm. In: Managerial Economics. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-15524-8_3

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Alternative Theories of the Firm. Problems with Traditional Theory n Difficulties in maximising profit < non-use of opportunity cost < difficulties in.

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Presentation on theme: "Alternative Theories of the Firm. Problems with Traditional Theory n Difficulties in maximising profit < non-use of opportunity cost < difficulties in."— Presentation transcript:

Baumol’s Sales Maximisation Model

Pricing and Output Decisions: Imperfectly Competitive Markets

The Principal-Agent Problem

The Principal-Agent Problem Ownership & control: the large corporation is owned by so many shareholders that no single shareholder owns a significant proportion.

Price determined by S & D Price taker Won’t charge higher or lower than market price Horizontal (perfectly elastic) at market price.

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a market structure in which there is only one seller of a good or service that has no close substitutes and entry to the market is completely blocked.

COST ANALYSIS.

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About project

Alternatives to the Big Bang Theory (infographic)

Is there another theory for the origin of the universe?

Are there alternative theories that could explain the origin of the universe?

Big Bang Theory assumptions

Big bang alternatives, additional resources, bibliography.

The Big Bang Theory is the primary explanation for how the universe began 13.8 billion years ago. Though it is the leading explanation, some theorists have come up with alternative ideas or extensions to the Big Bang Theory. We explore some of these theories in the detailed infographic below.

To investigate how the universe came into existence, we first need to ask what exactly is it? The term "observable universe" refers to everything that we can see, according to NASA .

Due to the connection between distance and speed of light , scientists can peer at a region of space that light 13.8 billion light-years away meaning we can look 13.8 billion light-years in every direction. But it isn't that simple. Due to the expansion of the universe, recent estimations place the diameter of the observable universe sphere at over 90 billion light-years, according to Forbes .

Related: How big is the universe?

Most astronomers believe the universe began 13.8 billion years ago in an explosion called the Big Bang. Other theorists have invented alternatives and extensions to this theory.

Scientists make three assumptions about the universe based on theories and observations:

The laws of physics are universal and don't change with time or location in space.
The universe is homogenous, or roughly the same in every direction (though not necessarily all of the time).
Humans do not observe the universe from a privileged location such as its very center.

When applied to Einstein 's equations, they indicate that the universe has several properties:

The universe is expanding.
The universe emerged from a hot, dense state at some infinite time in the past.
The lightest elements, hydrogen and helium were created in the first moments.
A background of microwave radiation fills the entire universe.

If any of these basic assumptions are wrong, the Big Bang Theory would not explain all the properties of this universe. This leads to some theorists asking "is it possible the Big Bang never happened?"

Related: Was Einstein wrong? The case against space-time theory

One alternative theory is the Steady State universe. An early rival to the Big Bang theory, Steady State posits the continuous creation of matter throughout the universe to explain its apparent expansion, according to NASA Cosmic Times . This type of universe would be infinite, with no beginning or end. However, a mountain of evidence found since the mid-1960s indicates that this theory is not correct.

– 10 wild theories about the universe

– What happened before the Big Bang?

– The history of the universe: Big Bang to now in 10 easy steps

Another alternative is the Eternal Inflation theory. After the Big Bang, the universe expanded rapidly during a brief period called inflation. The Eternal Inflation theory posits that inflation never stopped, and has been going on for an infinite length of time. Somewhere, even now, new universes are coming into existence in a vast complex called the multiverse. Those many universes could have different physical laws.

The Oscillating model of the universe involved an endless series of Big Bangs, followed by Big Crunches that restarted the cycle, endlessly. The modern cyclic model involves colliding "branes" (a "membrane" within a higher-dimensional volume called the "bulk").

Implications found in quantum gravity and string theory tantalizingly suggest a universe that is, in reality, nothing like how it appears to human observers. It may be a flat hologram projected onto the surface of a sphere, for example. Or it could be a completely digital simulation running on a vast computer.

Listen to ESA"s interview with astrophysicist Professor Joseph Silk on why we may never get to know whether the universe is finite or infinite. Explore the wealth of evidence for the Big Bang with the National Schools' Observatory , Liverpool John Moores University and The University of Western Australia .

Nicolai, Hermann. " Complexity and the Big Bang. " Classical and Quantum Gravity 38.18 (2021): 187001.
Netchitailo, Vladimir S. " World-Universe Model—Alternative to Big Bang Model. " Journal of High Energy Physics, Gravitation and Cosmology 6.01 (2020): 133.
Wallace, David. The emergent multiverse: Quantum theory according to the Everett interpretation. Oxford University Press, 2012.
Linde, Andrei. " A brief history of the multiverse. " Reports on Progress in Physics 80.2 (2017): 022001.
Bostrom, Nick. " Are we living in a computer simulation? ." The philosophical quarterly 53.211 (2003): 243-255.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Get the Space.com Newsletter

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

Karl's association with Space.com goes back to 2000, when he was hired to produce interactive Flash graphics. From 2010 to 2016, Karl worked as an infographics specialist across all editorial properties of Purch (formerly known as TechMediaNetwork). Before joining Space.com, Karl spent 11 years at the New York headquarters of The Associated Press, creating news graphics for use around the world in newspapers and on the web. He has a degree in graphic design from Louisiana State University and now works as a freelance graphic designer in New York City.

Daisy Dobrijevic Reference Editor

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6 Alternative Dinosaur Extinction Theories That Don't Work

mrganso/Pixabay

Paleontologists
Dinosaurs & Birds
Marine Reptiles
Prehistoric Mammals
Habitat Profiles
Marine Life
B.S., Cornell University

Today, all the geologic and fossil evidence at our disposal points to the most likely theory of dinosaur extinction: that an astronomical object (either a meteor or a comet) smashed into the Yucatan peninsula 65 million years ago. However, there are still a handful of fringe theories lurking around the edges of this hard-won wisdom, some of which are proposed by maverick scientists and some of which come from creationists and conspiracy theorists. Here are six alternative explanations for the extinction of the dinosaurs, ranging from reasonably argued (volcanic eruptions) to just plain wacky (intervention by aliens).

Volcanic Eruptions

MonikaP/Pixabay

Starting about 70 million years ago, five million years before the K/T Extinction , there was intense volcanic activity in what is now northern India. There is evidence that these "Deccan traps," covering about 200,000 square miles, were geologically active for literally tens of thousands of years, spewing billions of tons of dust and ash into the atmosphere. Slowly thickening clouds of debris circled the globe, blocking sunlight and causing terrestrial plants to wither — which, in turn, killed the dinosaurs that fed on these plants, and the meat-eating dinosaurs that fed on these plant-eating dinosaurs.

The volcanic theory of dinosaur extinction would be extremely plausible if it weren't for the five-million-year gap between the start of the Deccan trap eruptions and the end of the Cretaceous period. The best that can be said for this theory is that dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and marine reptiles may well have been adversely impacted by these eruptions, and suffered an extreme loss of genetic diversity that set them up to be toppled by the next major cataclysm, the K/T meteor impact. There's also the issue of why only dinosaurs would have been affected by the traps, but, to be fair, it's still not clear why only dinosaurs, pterosaurs , and marine reptiles were rendered extinct by the Yucatan meteor.

Epidemic Disease

3dman_eu/Pixabay

The world was rife with disease-creating viruses, bacteria, and parasites during the Mesozoic Era , no less than it is today. Toward the end of the Cretaceous period, these pathogens evolved symbiotic relationships with flying insects, which spread various fatal diseases to dinosaurs with their bites. For example, a study has shown that 65-million-year-old mosquitoes preserved in amber were carriers of malaria. Infected dinosaurs fell like dominoes, and populations that didn't immediately succumb to epidemic disease were so weakened that they were killed off once and for all by the K/T meteor impact.

Even proponents of disease extinction theories admit that the final coup de grace must have been administered by the Yucatan catastrophe. Infection alone couldn't have killed all the dinosaurs, the same way that bubonic plague alone didn't kill all the world's humans 500 years ago. There's also the pesky issue of marine reptiles. Dinosaurs and pterosaurs could well have been prey for flying, biting insects, but not ocean-dwelling mosasaurs , which weren't subject to the same disease vectors. Finally, and most tellingly, all animals are prone to life-threatening diseases. Why would dinosaurs and other Mesozoic reptiles have been more susceptible than mammals and birds?

A Nearby Supernova

NASA/ESA/JHU/R.Sankrit & W.Blair/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

A supernova, or exploding star, is one of the most violent events in the universe, emitting billions of times as much radiation as an entire galaxy. Most supernovae occur tens of millions of light years away, in other galaxies. A star exploding only a few light years from Earth at the end of the Cretaceous period would have bathed the planet in lethal gamma-ray radiation and killed all the dinosaurs. It's hard to disprove this theory since no astronomical evidence for this supernova could survive to the present day. The nebula left in its wake would long since have dispersed across our entire galaxy.

If a supernova did, in fact, explode only a few light years from Earth 65 million years ago, it wouldn't only have killed the dinosaurs. It would also have fried birds, mammals, fish, and pretty much all other living animals, with the possible exception of deep-sea-dwelling bacteria and invertebrates. There is no convincing scenario in which only dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and marine reptiles would succumb to gamma-ray radiation while other organisms managed to survive. In addition, an exploding supernova would leave a characteristic trace in end-Cretaceous fossil sediments, comparable to the iridium laid down by the K/T meteor. Nothing of this nature has been discovered.

Andy Hay/Flickr/CC BY 2.0

There are actually two theories here, both of which depend on supposedly fatal weaknesses in dinosaur egg-laying and reproductive habits. The first idea is that, by the end of the Cretaceous period, various animals had evolved a taste for dinosaur eggs and consumed more freshly-laid eggs than what could be replenished by breeding females. The second theory is that a freak genetic mutation caused the shells of dinosaur eggs to become either a few layers too thick (thereby preventing the hatchlings from kicking their way out) or a few layers too thin (exposing the developing embryos to disease and making them more vulnerable to predation).

Animals have been eating the eggs of other animals ever since the appearance of multicellular life over 500 million years ago. Egg-eating is a basic part of the evolutionary arms race. What's more, nature has long since taken this behavior into account. For example, the reason a leatherback turtle lays 100 eggs is that only one or two hatchlings need to make it into the water to propagate the species. It's unreasonable, therefore, to propose any mechanism whereby all the eggs of all the world's dinosaurs could be eaten before any of them had a chance to hatch. As for the eggshell theory, that may conceivably have been the case for a handful of dinosaur species, but there is absolutely no evidence for a global dinosaur eggshell crisis 65 million years ago.

Changes in Gravity

DariuszSankowski/Pixabay

Most often embraced by creationists and conspiracy theorists, the idea here is that the force of gravity was much weaker during the Mesozoic Era than it is today. According to the theory, this is why some dinosaurs were able to evolve to such gargantuan sizes. A 100-ton titanosaur would be much more nimble in a weaker gravitational field, which could effectively cut its weight in half. At the end of the Cretaceous period, a mysterious event — perhaps an extraterrestrial disturbance or a sudden change in the composition of the Earth's core — caused our planet's gravitational pull to increase drastically, effectively pinning larger dinosaurs to the ground and rendering them extinct.

Since this theory is not based in reality, there's not much use listing all the scientific reasons that the gravitational theory of dinosaur extinction is complete nonsense. There is absolutely no geological or astronomical evidence for a weaker gravitational field 100 million years ago. Also, the laws of physics , as we currently understand them, do not allow us to tweak the gravitational constant just because we want to fit the "facts" to a given theory. Many of the dinosaurs of the late Cretaceous period were moderately sized (less than 100 pounds) and, presumably, would not have been fatally afflicted by a few extra gravitational forces.

tombud/Pixabay

Toward the end of the Cretaceous period, intelligent aliens (who had presumably been monitoring the Earth for quite some time) decided that dinosaurs had a good run and it was time for another type of animal to rule the roost. So these ETs introduced a genetically-engineered supervirus, drastically altered the Earth's climate, or even, for all we know, hurled a meteor at the Yucatan peninsula using an inconceivably engineered gravitational slingshot. The dinosaurs went kaput, the mammals took over, and 65 million years later, human beings evolved, some of whom actually believe this nonsense.

There is a long, intellectually dishonorable tradition of invoking ancient aliens to explain supposedly "unexplainable" phenomena. For example, there are still people who believe that aliens constructed the pyramids in ancient Egypt and the statues on Easter Island — since human populations were supposedly too "primitive" to accomplish these tasks. One imagines that, if aliens really did engineer the extinction of the dinosaurs, we would find the equivalent of their soda cans and snack wrappers preserved in Cretaceous sediments. On this point, the fossil record is even emptier than the skulls of the conspiracy theorists who endorse this theory.

Poinar, Geroge Jr. "An ancient killer: ancestral malarial organisms traced to age of dinosaurs." Oregon State University, March 25, 2016.

The Four Eras of the Geologic Time Scale
10 Myths About Dinosaur Extinction
The K/T Extinction Event
Why Did Crocodiles Survive the K/T Extinction?
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What Came Before the Big Bang?

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine .

About 13.8 billion years ago, the entire cosmos consisted of a tiny, hot, dense ball of energy that suddenly exploded.

That’s how everything began, according to the standard scientific story of the Big Bang, a theory that first took shape in the 1920s. The story has been refined over the decades, most notably in the 1980s, when many cosmologists came to believe that in its first moments, the universe went through a brief period of extraordinarily fast expansion called inflation before settling into a lower gear.

That brief period is thought to have been caused by a peculiar form of high-energy matter that throws gravity into reverse, “inflating” the fabric of the universe exponentially quickly and causing it to grow by a factor of a million billion billion in less than a billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a second. Inflation explains why the universe appears to be so smooth and homogeneous when astronomers examine it at large scales.

But if inflation is responsible for all that can be seen today, that raises the question: What, if anything, came before?

No experiment has yet been devised that can observe what happened before inflation. However, mathematicians can sketch out some possible scenarios. The strategy is to apply Einstein’s general theory of relativity—a theory that equates gravity with the curvature of space-time—as far back into time as it can go.

That’s the hope of three researchers: Ghazal Geshnizjani of the Perimeter Institute, Eric Ling of the University of Copenhagen, and Jerome Quintin of the University of Waterloo. The trio recently published a paper in the Journal of High Energy Physics in which, Ling said, “We mathematically showed that there might be a way to see beyond our universe.”

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Working together with Jerome Quintin and Eric Ling, Ghazal Geshnizjani of the Perimeter Institute examined ways in which space-time might be extended beyond the Big Bang.

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Robert Brandenberger, a physicist at McGill University who was not involved with the study, said the new paper “sets a new standard of rigor for the analysis” of the mathematics of the beginning of time. In some cases, what appears at first to be a singularity—a point in space-time where mathematical descriptions lose their meaning—may in fact be an illusion.

A Taxonomy of Singularities

The central issue confronting Geshnizjani, Ling, and Quintin is whether there is a point prior to inflation at which the laws of gravity break down in a singularity. The simplest example of a mathematical singularity is what happens to the function 1/ x as x approaches zero. The function takes a number x as an input, and outputs another number. As x gets smaller and smaller, 1/ x gets larger and larger, approaching infinity. If x is zero, the function is no longer well defined: It can’t be relied upon as a description of reality.

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“We mathematically showed that there might be a way to see beyond our universe,” said Eric Ling of the University of Copenhagen.

Sometimes, however, mathematicians can get around a singularity. For example, consider the prime meridian, which passes through Greenwich, England, at longitude zero. If you had a function of 1/longitude, it would go berserk in Greenwich. But there’s not actually anything physically special about suburban London: You could easily redefine zero longitude to pass through some other place on Earth, and then your function would behave perfectly normally when approaching the Royal Observatory in Greenwich.

Something similar happens at the boundary of mathematical models of black holes. The equations that describe spherical nonrotating black holes, worked out by the physicist Karl Schwarzschild in 1916, have a term whose denominator goes to zero at the event horizon of the black hole—the surface surrounding a black hole beyond which nothing can escape. That led physicists to believe that the event horizon was a physical singularity. But eight years later the astronomer Arthur Eddington showed that if a different set of coordinates is used, the singularity disappears. Like the prime meridian, the event horizon is an illusion: a mathematical artifact called a coordinate singularity, which only arises because of the choice of coordinates.

At a black hole’s center, by contrast, the density and curvature go to infinity in a way that can’t be eliminated by using a different coordinate system. The laws of general relativity start spewing out gibberish. This is called a curvature singularity. It implies that something is taking place that’s beyond the ability of current physical and mathematical theories to describe.

Geshnizjani, Ling, and Quintin studied whether the onset of the Big Bang is more like the center of a black hole, or more like an event horizon. Their investigation builds upon a theorem proved in 2003 by Arvind Borde, Alan Guth (one of the first people to propose the idea of inflation), and Alexander Vilenkin. This theorem, known by the authors’ initials as BGV, says that inflation must have had a beginning—it can’t have been going on ceaselessly into the past. There must have been a singularity to kick things off. BGV establishes the existence of this singularity, without saying what kind of singularity it is.

As Quintin puts it, he and his colleagues have worked to figure out if that singularity is a brick wall—a curvature singularity—or a curtain that can be pulled back—a coordinate singularity. Eric Woolgar, a mathematician at the University of Alberta who was not involved in the study, said that it clarifies our picture of the Big Bang singularity. “They can say whether the curvature is infinite at the initial singularity or whether the singularity is milder, which might allow us to extend our model of the universe to times before the Big Bang.”

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“Light rays can actually go through the boundary,” said Jerome Quintin of the University of Waterloo.

To classify possible pre-inflationary scenarios, the three researchers used a parameter called the scale factor that describes how the distance between objects has changed over time as the universe expands. By definition, the Big Bang is the time when the scale factor was zero—everything was squeezed into a dimensionless point.

During inflation, the scale factor increased with exponential speed. Before inflation, the scale factor could have varied in any number of ways. The new paper provides a taxonomy of singularities for different scale-factor scenarios. “We show that under certain conditions, the scale factor will produce a curvature singularity, and under other conditions it does not,” Ling said.

Researchers already knew that in a universe with so-called dark energy , but without matter, the start of inflation identified in the BGV theorem is a coordinate singularity that can be eliminated. But the real universe has matter, of course. Might mathematical tricks also make it possible to get around its singularity? The researchers showed that if the amount of matter is negligible compared to the amount of dark energy, then the singularity can be eliminated. “Light rays can actually go through the boundary,” Quintin said. “And in that sense, you can see beyond the boundary; it’s not like a brick wall.” The universe’s history would extend beyond the Big Bang.

However, cosmologists think that the early universe had more matter than energy. In this case, the new work shows that the BGV singularity would be a real physical curvature singularity, at which the laws of gravity stop making sense.

A singularity hints at the fact that general relativity can’t be a complete description of the basic rules of physics. Efforts to form such a description, which would require reconciling general relativity with quantum mechanics, are ongoing. Ling said he sees the new paper as a stepping stone to such a theory. In order to make sense of the universe at the highest energy levels, he said, “we first need to understand classical physics as well as we can.”

Original story reprinted with permission from Quanta Magazine , an editorially independent publication of the Simons Foundation whose mission is to enhance public understanding of science by covering research developments and trends in mathematics and the physical and life sciences.

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Alex Jones Lost Everything—And Still Won

His brand of conspiracism will live on even if Infowars doesn’t.

A photo of Alex Jones standing before microphones at a press conference outside a Houston courthouse

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Produced by ElevenLabs and News Over Audio (NOA) using AI narration.

Alex Jones couldn’t help himself. On Friday, just before a federal judge was set to decide the fate of Infowars, his conspiracy-media empire, Jones spun up yet another conspiracy.

He was on his way into a Houston courthouse as part of the ongoing saga over lies he told about the Sandy Hook school shooting. After six years of litigation, Jones owes $1.5 billion in defamation damages. The “FBI and CIA” had fabricated the charges against him, Jones explained, in his famously gravelly voice, to the half dozen or so cameramen in front of him. The agencies had organized a “deep-state operation against the American people,” he said, wiping the sweat off his head in the Houston heat. “This is a very, very exciting time to be alive.”

Apparently, the omnipotent FBI and CIA failed in their ultimate goal of thwarting Jones. The judge directed Jones to sell off his personal assets in order to pay up, but he spared Infowars. Right now the media network sits in purgatory: It will keep operating for the time being, but in future legal proceedings, Infowars could be liquidated to help Jones pay the damages . With all the money Jones owes, it’s not clear how much longer he can keep hold of his most treasured asset.

But the reality is that it doesn’t matter much if Infowars is shut down. Over the past three decades of his broadcast career, Jones helped pioneer an entire mode of conspiratorial thinking that is now dominant in pockets of the right. It will live on even if Infowars doesn’t.

I’m more familiar with this mode of thinking than I sometimes like to admit. I first encountered Alex Jones at a different time in both of our lives. He was a relatively popular but still niche curiosity, and his conspiracy theories were not yet as politically destructive as they would become. I was a high schooler in Texas. I came across him not in his hometown city, Austin, but more than 100 miles down the highway, near Houston, in my family’s computer room. I don’t remember exactly how I heard about Infowars or what segment roped me in (this was around 2008), but I remember the feeling it gave me: the satisfaction of having found a truth that most were blind to.

As a young teenager who didn’t feel represented by either party, I found that Jones’s videos offered a different option, one in which both Democrats and Republicans were simply giving cover to a cabal of wealthy elites. He skewed libertarian and made documentaries with titles such as The Obama Deception , but he also attacked the “police state” and went after George W. Bush. Anyone or anything with power was fair game.

I came to Jones alone but eventually found out that people around me were also peering into his world. When a substitute teacher at my high school referenced Infowars during class, my friends and I discussed it later with approbation. We all agreed that he was tapped into the good stuff. A lot of others saw what we saw. In 2011, Rolling Stone reported that Jones was drawing a bigger online audience than Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh combined.

Eventually, the spell broke. As I got older and saw more of his content, I realized that his spiel wasn’t adding up. FEMA was supposedly operating concentration camps across the country, Jones posted online. I highly doubt it, but maybe … ? I thought at the time. In 2010, when Jones said that Machete , a goofy action movie starring Danny Trejo, was actually a part of a plot to incite a race war in the U.S., I knew that Jones had lost his own plot. Maybe he’d never had it.

At some point after I came across him in the family computer room, Jones went from being a general skeptic with reactionary tendencies to being solidly ensconced in the far right. By the 2016 presidential election, he was buddying up to the billionaire GOP nominee. Donald Trump was calling in to his show for fawning interviews. Jones’s conspiracy theories became more comprehensive. He began giving copious amounts of oxygen to the type of conspiracy that anything embarrassing for the right is actually a manufactured operation by the federal government. In Jones’s worldview, the white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, was orchestrated by the feds to undermineTrump. The victims of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, were crisis actors.

But if there was a single inflection point that represented Jones’s shift from a libertarian free agent to someone explicitly fighting for right-wing causes, it was also the thing that now promises to be his undoing: Sandy Hook. After the tragic 2012 shooting in which 20 children and six adults were killed at a Connecticut elementary school, Jones skipped the moment of national grieving and went straight to conspiracy theorizing. The shooting was a hoax, he said, and the victims and their grieving families were “crisis actors” who were working for the gun-control lobby. Jones never provided proof for his claims but kept repeating them anyway, exposing victims’ family members to harassment and death threats. In 2018, the same year that the families sued Jones for defamation, he was also banned from nearly every major tech platform , in part because of the Sandy Hook abuse.

I checked in on Jones in 2019 to see what he was up to. What he was up to was being extremely Islamophobic. “You have a sickening alliance of hijab-wearing women [in Congress],” he said in one video from January 2019. “I mean, I go to restaurants … and there’s women in full burqas taking spoonfuls of food and eating it under their—we’re talking slits where their eyes are.” He went on to describe the women as “captured slaves who have had their genitals cut off.”

Jones’s own arc tracked neatly with the trajectory of the world around him. As he evolved, the mainstream right began to trade in conspiracy theories in a more explicit way than it had in decades. You can see the residue of this on the arc of the modern conspiracy movement. A space previously occupied by sometimes-lovable kooks became a theater in a vicious culture war. Jones’s conspiracy forerunners of the 1980s and ’90s, such as Art Bell and George Knapp, focused on UFOs and the paranormal. Occasionally, they also discussed the government, but with less political intensity. As Jones ascended, he started having less in common with the likes of Bell and Knapp and more in common with incendiary right-wing commentators such as Rush Limbaugh . It’s hard to know if Jones influenced this trajectory or simply understood the direction it was going in before everyone else did, and ran in front of it. The answer is probably somewhere in the middle.

Either way, it bore out in the apparatus that became QAnon, a sprawling conspiracy theory that liberal elites are sexually abusing children in tunnels. QAnon was less a fringe way of explaining systems of power (the standard role of the previous era of conspiracy-theory culture) than an all-encompassing system of logic . Jones, appropriately, was an early booster of QAnon’s precursor, Pizzagate, which claimed that liberal elites were sexually abusing children out of a pizza restaurant in Washington, D.C.

Suggesting that events are hoaxes carried out by left-wing operators is now standard language in parts of the right, both among elected officials and among t heir supporters . Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene supported unfounded theories that the Parkland school shooting was a “false flag.” Earlier this month, she posted a picture on Instagram of herself with Jones, accompanied by the caption “I stand with Alex Jones!” After the 2022 elementary-school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Representative Paul Gosar falsely claimed that the shooter was a “transsexual leftist illegal alien.”

Even if Infowars is shut down, this kind of conspiracism is not going away. Politicians and right-wing-media figures will probably keep making “false flag” claims and attempting to explain away inconvenient truths with unverified conspiracy theories. The thing that took Jones down—not just his Sandy Hook defamation but also his use of conspiracy theories as a political cudgel—is the clearest example of what his legacy will be.

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6. Cycle The Cycle theory is of a cycle of filling with hot, dense, matter and radiation, then cooling and expansion similar to the Big Bang Theory. But then it restarts, unlike some versions of the Big Bang Theory. Fills with matter and radiation Cools and expands After 14 billion years, begins accelerating in expansion and cooling After trillions of years, matter and radiation are spread ...
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