Here’s why people are falling for conspiracy theories

Brian Klaas, PhD, explains that “the problem with conspiracy theories is they're not just telling you a story, they're telling you a really good story. There's a hidden cabal behind everything that's happening, there's a secret pattern that you just have to be smart enough to detect.”

[IsterioLarmakosa]

I don't know. For instance, I have been called a conspiracy theorist for things like insisting there was close to 0% chance the US would find WMD in Iraq because there was no way 2002's Iraq could have the capacity to make them, and because I was relaying the opinion of an actual expert on the subject, Scott Ritter, who had been violently ostracized. That's just one of the many examples where it has been misused. So I tend to be very defiant of people trying to conceptualize "conspiracy theory mindset" with pseudo psychological babbling. To me, this sounds like rationalized conformism and it is just as dangerous as wild conspiracy theories about aliens or jews or "great replacement". You have to accept that there are a lot of hidden variables in our representations of reality, whoever you are, that we all have different representations and have to communicate openly about them without being too judgemental, and that truth is always partial, you cannot take anything for granted and that there are very good reasons to be defiant of our governments, lobbies and industries. TL;DR: What everyone needs to learn is to embrace uncertainty and how to adjust your mindset as you gather new info.

[roofuscat]

Understanding Conspiracy theories. - Step 1 Governmwnt lies. Step 2 Media lies. Step 3 Conspiricies abound. Congratulations. You are not a moron.

[Emanresu]

Critical thinking begins with the search for truth

[draganaspasevska]

There is much more to this topic… For example, people who have lived in corrupt countries and governments are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories for understandable reasons. Education level and participation in society is another big component. Working for companies or industries where you are in leadership allows you to be a player versus a watcher. We have a lot of people who feel disenfranchised and not in control, and with that feeling emerge conspiracy theories.

[michaelhuntley]

History shows us how while you may be paranoid, it does not mean you’re wrong about a potential conspiracy at play.

[r.m.]

Conspiracy theories are entertaining and I enjoy them. What I don’t like is when there is strong evidence to indicate something might be true and it gets written off because folks are too afraid to consider the possibility.

[MarkMikuse]

Thank you for your great explanation on conspiracy theories. I also feel that with political marketing sometimes the politicians are trying to show their best assets and hide their worst so people try to fill in the blanks to fit their own narrative but it’s always wrong. Politicians need to stop playing around with facts and have plain speak policies. And also voters need to listen more carefully.

[catahuanco]

It is rampant ignorance, the easy way out.

[lephtovermeet]

I think there's a bit more to it in the US. Education has been declining for decades, most Americans don't read or exercise their brain at all so there's a ton of cognitive decline, and people are isolated and lonely. People out in the suburbs with little social fabric and no traditional culture want to feel so special and smart and be able to engage with other woke people like them who know that lizard people are ruling the government etc. and when it comes to somewhat more plausible conspiracy, again many many people who no critical reasoning ability, so they easily fall for it if it fits their narrative.

[SubManifest]

Couldn’t this model also be applied to the labelling of someone as a “conspiracy theorist” in the first place

[SharonCorbett]

It's for this exact reason that, as we are about to enter the AI world in an incredibly momentous way with the advent of quantum computers, we need to be absolutely precise about the information we encode all AI with, as well as being as specific as possible on exactly what function is required of any particular computer. Information bias is nearly impossible to avoid, so having a computer that will have a far greater ability to retrieve data and solve problems of huge complexity with heretofore unseen speed compared with the binary coded computers of today, we need to overcome this propensity for drama.
Human beings have always been a contradictory species, if the brain is completely deprived of sensory input it will begin to manifest it's own reality (as seen in sound proof, light absent chambers, floating on water...people will 'hear' and 'see' things that are wholly created by the mind) and, as this video stated, we are suspicious of simplicity, instead we reach for a needless complexity. The present is already AI dominant, but the future will be AI dependant...it will oversee most of the running operations of world that will trend toward a global identity, and be present in literally every aspect of life. Given too that we feel the need to give sophisticated AI a human appearance, complete with conversation abilities and the capacity to create it's own ideas, the average person will see them as sentient - a state of being that is impossible for a machine to attain, but the mistake will be unavoidable, and dangerous if even the smallest of information bias was unknowingly embedded in its encoding.
For creatures as historically flawed and susceptible to accepting myth over reality, the future looms large with an essential ethical and moral stance to be rigorously implemented at all costs.

[KaiseruSoze]

A gap in knowledge "needs" to get filled. Critical thinkers tend not to accept "fillers". Some don't care. Some don't know there are tools that can be applied to these gaps. And the evil ppl understand this as an opportunity. (E.g., FOX news, InfoWars etc. )

[Freebird_]

Also, people are drawn to the representation of uncertainty of the world that these theories present .
Because LIFE is uncertain and unpredictable.

[wongjefx]

Conspiracy Nut: The Earth is flat. Science: Well, we can see it’s round from space, and modern navigation like GPS would not work……. Conspiracy Nut: it’s still flat.

[Ts]

Where are the critical thinking skills? What about just plain common sense? Or is the urge to be part of the "cool, in the know, crowd" or part of the herd too hard to resist?

[KamenRaiden]

No! That's what the government wants me to think!! 😡🥴

[danqual]

Not just conspiracy theories. This also explains why so many people fall for religion

[lovewinseveryday]

Invented by the bad guys to silence people who dare to think. The irony of this channel

[jaccrystal]

'Conspiracy' only means unacknowledged secrecy-and as for 'theories'-don't scienticists win Nobel prizes for theirs'? Or maybe there's never been any hidden secrecy in human history.

[ceptualfusion]

A secret corporate structure is making you prepare this video to prevent us from seeing the truth.😂😂😂