The advent of - and How 'Think Tanks' work

[Cooky]

There are probably thousands of Think Tanks by now, from which seem to have started in either America or the UK, and now most recently in Asia. But where did the idea come from, and are they good or bad?

In this thread, I would like to explore the realm of Think Tanks and learn as much as possible about their impacts before and after, where they originated, and whether their policy influences contradict public opinion -or if they even go as far as to influence public opinion, possibly by being promoted by particular people in particular positions. Is there a higher or lower potential for corruption with think tanks, and finally if there is any alternative to think tanks in a modern world.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or contributions on this quest for understanding.

 

[Sunstone]

As I recall, the Rand Corporation was the world's first think tank and it was begun as a money-making venture dedicated to selling its ideas and conclusions to the Pentagon, etc. But so far as I know, the idea of the think tank very quickly evolved into "an institution dedicated to perpetuating zombie ideas".

Zombie ideas are ideas that no matter how many times they are refuted and disproven keep coming back again and again. For instance, trickle down economics is a zombie idea. Quite arguably, they are a modern means of defeating Thomas Jefferson's notion that the truth will win out in the end in the "marketplace of ideas". Zombie ideas tend to be the last thing standing, rather than the truth.

Think tanks today are almost all of them begun by people who started them to make sure that this or that idea or set of ideas never dies out, no matter how many times it is blown away by the truth.

For example, the billionaire Pete Peterson -- before he died -- endowed a think tank with a billion dollars. The mission of the think tank? To promote the privatization of social security in the United States come hell or high water.

It is quite the naive person who believes think tanks are dedicated to the truth. Very, very few of them are. Almost every think tank today is dedicated to exactly the opposite of the truth -- they are dedicated to promoting ideas so bad that the ideas would die out -- if it were not for the think tank reviving them over and over again.

 

[Cooky]

I wonder if Think Tanks are a modern continuation of what Freemasonry used to be in the old world.

All those "secrets" they are so keen on protecting, with the Tubalcain / Hiram Abiff ceremonial reenactments, turning out to be a kind of hypnosis for it's followers to protect their hidden agendas when the world wasn't quite ready -during the times of theocracies and fascist totalitarian tendencies.

...All dabbling in the art or "craft" of infiltration -think tanks and old time freemasonry alike.