Broad Implications
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This kind of broken thinking poses a problem for society, as conspiracy researcher Alfred Moore points out. According to Moore, conspiratorial thinking erodes society in at least five ways:
Healthy skepticism of government claims is generally a good thing. Science positively thrives on skepticism; knowing that all claims will be checked helps keep scientists honest and makes them actually do the math.
Conspiracy theories aren’t healthy skepticism, however; they’re a credulous rejection of facts for reasons that have a lot more to do with the believer than with the subject.
In place of reality, an essentially irrational belief like the Moon landing hoax substitutes a funhouse-mirror picture of the world that drives otherwise normal people away from the mainstream and encourages tribalism, short-term thinking, and a retreat into agreeable echo chambers on the Internet.
If we’re not careful, these traits will cause serious problems for us in the next century.
Next, read about the conspiracy theories that actually were true, and why chemtrails are a myth.
