Statistically, many of you who read this post believe that some kind of sinister conspiracy is happening right now, operating under our collective radar. That may be a Kennedy assassination cover-up, or a faked Moon landing the government is still burying, or a few alien corpses resting secretly in Roswell, New Mexico. Conspiracy theories are a special breed of belief systems, very rarely scientific and often viewed as, well, double or even triple cray. But does believing the truth is out there make you crazy?
In my latest Because Science, I’m running through the psychology of a conspiracy theorist extraordinaire: The X-Files‘Â Agent Fox Mulder. But first, what is a conspiracy theory, and how many people actually believe them? Far from being isolated ideas, some conspiracy theories are accepted by the majority of the American population. They can change the whole way we look at the world, the way we think. Believing in one theory, for example, makes you you more likely to believe in a few, even if they contradict each other. They don’t make you crazy, but conspiracy theories are viral, fact-resistant memes that should alert your inner Scully.
Oh, and if I suddenly disappear after this video premieres, tell my family to send the packages I left them to the major news networks. THE TRUTH MUST BE HEARD.
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