Techno-science, and the changes wrought by techno-science, frequently result in pushback. While such resistance can be grounded in attention to risks and social justice issues, this resistance can also take the form of conspiratorial reactions. From climate change denial to anti-vaccine movements, from fears of 5G towers to UFOs, from pseudoscience to conspiracy theories—instead of settling contentious debates, the creation of techno-scientific evidence has repeatedly led to conflict over what it is that particular evidence truly shows. Not simply consisting of a rejection of techno-science, conspiracy adherents marshal government documents and scientific reports in order to push for conclusions other than those found in those materials; with many conspiracy advocates learning to skillfully deploy the language of expertise in order to bolster, and spread, their claims.

This session engages with the conference theme of “good relations” by approaching the matter of relations from the opposite direction. We seek to investigate the sorts of “bad,” “inappropriate,” “conspiratorial,” or “unforeseen” relations that emerge from modes of techno-scientific expertise and knowledge making. In what ways does the same evidence get mobilized by groups with differing agendas to advance bizarre claims? How have different media technologies afforded the efficient spread of such thinking? Beyond treating them as a source purely for concern or derision, what can (or should) STS scholars learn from studying pseudoscience and conspiracy theories? Beyond an assemblage of case studies, we hope our panel will demonstrate how views that are often treated as unserious deserve serious critical attention.