“How Conspiracy Theories Threaten Human Civilization” — Vice, 2021, 7:03 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7t39FZcW-o

Contributed by Mary Scafidi, Cabrini University

Conspiracy theories are theories that cannot be proven wrong, and the belief in conspiracy theories is related to disbelief in actual science. The term was coined by Karl Popper, a philosopher of science who also coined the phrase “paradigm shift”. Unfortunately, conspiracy theories lead to many waves of fear and paranoia. Classic examples include how the Russian flu of 1898 was blamed on electric light bulbs, and “the killer steam train” which said if it went over a certain speed everyone on the train would melt and/or female passengers would have their uterus sucked out of their body.

Conspiracy theories can sound scientific because they mimic what scientists actually do which is question existing narratives in hopes of discovering the truth. Yet a cornerstone for conspiracy theorists is to call scientists liars. Scientific thinking relies on evidence, but conspiracy theories try to show that such evidence is a lie, and that the conspiracy theorist is the one with the real truth. In the process, they are undermining science without any evidence to support what they are saying. Hence conspiracy theories are un-falsifiable. There is no evidence, so there is no way for them to be proved wrong.

Currently, there is the conspiracy theory that 5G cellular towers caused the pandemic. When the COVID-19 pandemic started, people started to believe that it was an intentional biological attack using 5G broadband. Engineers were even verbally attacked in the streets and there were several masts burned down in the UK. Though this conspiracy theory is not real, it is a real example of a spurious relationship, a situation where two variables appear to be directly related but instead the relationship is attributable to a third intervening variable. In this case, the co-prevalence of COVID-19 and 5G can be easily explained by population size and density. The virus spreads most effectively in populated areas, and cellular companies introduce new technologies like 5G in the most populated (and profitable) areas first.

Why do you think that people believe in conspiracy theories? Do you think there is a way to stop conspiracy theorists? How have conspiracy theories change the way people think?

From the video’s description: It’s been well established that belief in conspiracy theories is related to a disbelief in actual science. The whole toxic frustration of conspiracy theorists is that they can never be proven wrong – all evidence against their ideas just becomes part of the conspiracy. This is largely why, even though they seem obsessed with science, they always get actual science so wrong. From the moon landing to flat earth to 5G, there has been a constant battle in modern times between science and conspiracy.