Me. Welcome to the You Are Not So Smart Podcast. Episode 197. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, and the me. I think we all have a little conspiracy theorists living inside of us, right?

We all tend to be a little paranoid to think, hmm, how could these things fit together is this all just a coincidence we don't we inherently don't like

Coincidences a parent patterns

They speak to us they they they emotionally be responded by saying, oh, that's something real there.

We don't like dismissing apparent patterns as just coincidence or illusion.

And so we look for the hidden hand the meaning you know it's

not a recent phenomenon it's not something that only happens at times of crisis it's not something that disappears when you're not looking at it.

There is no evidence right now that conspiracy beliefs are increasing.

I mean it could be the case, but we just no evidence of it and I haven't found any evidence

that conspiracy thinking in general is increasing. In short, what these three experts are saying is that conspiratorial thinking is something that all brains do.

It's part of how brains make sense of the world.

It is inescapable.

And it's something all of us are prone to doing,

including you. Many conspiracy theories have grown so popular over time that large

numbers of people have gathered around those theories which then led to

communities. Once a community forms around anything,

believing or not believing in that conspiracy

signals that you are or are not a member of that community.

And once social costs are in play, once reputational concerns are in play, once identity concerns are in play,

tribal psychology takes over. That's how conspiracy theories can become ideologies that snowball into large

political movements and mass political action. Group, based on a delusional and incorrect interpretation of the facts, leveraged

against incredible social demands.

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