How conspiracy theories work

It’s easy to say, “This is a conspiracy” when we don’t understand how things work.

For instance, during the ten year run of Apollo space missions, 400,000 people worked on the projects including engineers, scientists, technicians and laborers. In that group, you also had 12 people who walked on the moon, six pilots and six more who orbited.

The truth is, it would have been easier to land on the moon than it is to create a conspiracy of this magnitude.

The problem is our brains have a difficult time suspending disbelief and sitting with the tension it creates. That tension demands resolution. Instead of changing our minds we cherry pick the information to fit the narrative.

This is the problem with intellectual debt. We trust the system that has been built once we have seen how it works and ignore why it works. Over time, however, that debt accumulates. There are consequences of not learning about our rapidly evolving world.