Conspiracy theories are everywhere. Before Labor Day, the internet buzzed with the rumor that President Donald Trump was dead. He proved his existence by showing up at a press conference, where he called the rumor of his demise “fake news.”
Yet Trump has trafficked in fake news himself: At the end of May, the president shared a conspiracy theory on Truth Social claiming that former President Joe Biden had been executed in 2020 and replaced by a robotic clone.
One wonders why people get caught up in this nonsense. Perhaps we are bored, or maybe we are paranoid. But conspiracy theories have a strange pull upon us. We can be sucked into the orbit of what some philosophers call a “black hole” of knowledge and information.
The solution is simple: It involves critical thinking and calmness of soul. Stay calm, be smart and avoid intellectual black holes.
Conspiracy theories are the result of a process in which the search for meaning runs aground on a world that is often strange and inexplicable. Wishful thinking satisfies our desire for things to make sense. Communities of gullible people reinforce outlandish ideas. This process is aggravated by secrecy, distrust, isolation, polarization and suspicion.
When powerful forces act behind closed doors, we suspect conspiracy.
As alienation grows and cynicism spreads, it is natural to think that something sneaky is going on. This is exacerbated by an information ecosystem that is full of misinformation and nonsense, and it’s made worse by interested parties who profit by feeding our delusions.
Our innate curiosity and desire to make sense stimulates conspiratorial speculation. We want to know how and why things work. When the answers aren’t obvious, we invent them. When the facts displease us, we construct alternatives. The search for meaning can lead into internet rabbit holes.
No one is entirely immune to this process — we all long for explanations of the inexplicable. Wishful thinking feels good, and it’s fun to speculate about hidden forces guiding the world.
This is how superstition works. Fear of black cats and broken mirrors is similar to a fear of secret governmental forces. Those who see ghosts and demons will likely see other mysterious powers pulling political strings. The desire to explain suffering, evil and death leads people to postulate sin, karma and other magical mechanisms as drivers of the world.
But it is not true that everything happens for a reason — there are no masterminds pulling the strings. Human beings are usually more incompetent than omnipotent. The world is indifferent to our desire to make meaning. Sometimes things work out well, other times, they fall apart. Events occur without any explanation other than probability, coincidence and random chance.
The philosophical cure for conspiracies is well known, and involves wisdom and moderation. We need better thinking and greater emotional control. A soul in turmoil cannot think clearly, nor is it possible to see the truth when you are stuck in the orbit of a black hole of baloney.
It would be wonderful if we could create a society in which distrust, alienation, disinformation and polarization were not so pervasive. But that ideal is beyond our reach. Freedom of speech and of the press are important values, whose side-effects are rumors, gossip and nonsense.
The real solution is education: We can benefit from training in critical thinking and emotional regulation. In wondering whether some conspiracy is true, we need to ask ourselves what it would take to know it, and whether other explanations are more plausible.
We should also monitor our intake of information. Knowing that intellectual black holes exist can help us avoid them. It is useful to understand that interested parties prey upon gullible minds. In the end, we are each responsible for thinking better and for slowing the spread of hogwash that pollutes the information ecosystem.
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