Hi guys, welcome back to my channel.
So tonight I'd like to sit down and have chat.
And I think you could call this a podcast.
I need to make an introduction
since this is the first time I'm trying something new,
so please bear with me for the next two or three minutes
while I get the housekeeping out of the way.
I'm not sure whether I'll continue this as a series,
although I'd love to, I feel we need more female voices on podcasts,
and I mean the sound aspects of it,
not the gender parity part.
And I'm always looking for ways to cater to everyone who enjoys my voice.
Okay so... moving on.
I find this particular topic quite fascinating.
I've been trying to work this out for such a long time now
and I still don't think I have managed to pinpoint
what's at the core of the problem and turn this into one theory
in which all elements would work together.
But to be fair, there's a ton of people believing in conspiracy theories
and those maybe individuals on the right,
on the left and in the center of the political spectrum,
so it's not like 'hey, only those conservative right-wingers' believe in that nonsense.
No. It's just that the left and the right tend to believe in entirely different types of conspiracies.
Although I have to point out that liberals tend to be
a bit more reasonable in this particular case,
but that's a topic for a totally different discussion and I might pick it up in a different podcast.
Anyway, when you take all of those factors into consideration,
it probably turns out that the problem is too complex to try and unify this
and create a single profile for such a person.
After all, when it comes to the workings of the brain.
a lot is yet to be discovered.
Today I don't want to discuss conspiracy theories themselves,
it's rather a question of why do people believe in them,
even after the real evidence-based science is laid out,
and at the same time, why do people mistrust science these days.
Please note that I know my reasoning might be flawed
and there are some limitations to my knowledge,
because I'm not educated in that field,
so this is just some casual rambling.
I'm thinking out loud but hopefully
it'll be coherent enough for you to make sense of it.
So without further ado, let's move on.
And I want to start by saying I understand the thrill of conspiracy theories
and the supernatural stories.
Getting pleasure from those is fine. I don't want to spoil it for anyone.
I guess I'd compare this to watching Star Wars.
So you enjoy it, but you don't go walking around,
telling everyone how you fought Darth Vader
with a lightsaber, because you know it's not real.
And before I start judging conspiracy theorists,
let me stress that I strongly believe you should be allowed to
ridicule people's beliefs and opinions.
Certainly, making fun of people is not very elegant nor pleasant
for the human being you're interacting with.
It's always better not to get personal and stick to the facts,
but you can't police everything that comes out of people's mouths,
and you have to be allowed to respond to the gibberish that seems to be
piling up these days, especially when you're discussing health-related topics
such as homeopathy, anti-vaxxers,
naturopathy, curing cancer is vitamin C and so on.
There's this excellent quote by Professor Brian Cox
floating around the internet so I'm quite sure that some of you
have already stumbled upon it, but for those who did not,
let me quote it now,
because it's crucial to what I'm about to do and say.
The problem with today's world is that everyone believes
they have the right to express their opinion
and have others listen to it.
The correct statement of individual rights is that everyone has the right to an opinion,
but crucially, that opinion can be roundly ignored and even made fun of,
particularly if it's demonstrably nonsense.
So with that in mind, let's proceed to the main point.
First of all, people are terrified of the unknown
and they are generally suspicious.
So if an individual does not understand the complexity
of the universe or at least the crucial elements,
they will want to simplify the surrounding reality
and through that, in a way,
regain control they've lost in the first place.
Simplifying is easier than committing yourself to truly understanding
a given problem and also,
admitting to yourself that there are some issues beyond your comprehension
is not always easy. Some people would rather
question everything to further reject
that fact and trick themselves into thinking that
'hey, look at me I'm so inquisitive, I want to question everything".
Now I'm not suggesting that questioning is redundant.
Obviously, you should always proceed in life with caution and suspicion,
but once the problem is solved, admit that
you were wrong and stop living in denial.
And on a side note, I think that the ability to admit that you were wrong
and change your mind based on the evidence you're given
is a wonderful sign of maturity,
although it's a trait very few people seem to possess nowadays,
or maybe I was just unlucky and didn't meet a lot of them during my lifetime.
Let me be honest with you:
I am an idiot, okay? I'm a keen one,
as Robin Ince once nicely put it, but still an idiot.
I have accepted that fact and I try to
meander my way through this huge pile of information that's being steadily thrown at me.
However, I'm not scared of people who are wiser than I am.
I trust them. I trust their judgments, and
I have confidence in science because
I recognize what's at the core. I try to surround myself with wise
and interesting opinion leaders as much as I can,
and surprise surprise, it turns out that
the more you interact with the monster
the less terrifying it becomes.
Now some humans lack the basic understanding of what lies are the foundations of science.
There's not enough popular science in
our everyday lives, it's not simplified
and not accessible enough for the common man.
Of course, there are tons of brilliant documentaries,
podcasts, articles and whatnot, because I myself have been watching them,
I've been reading them and listening to them.
But I want more because clearly,
we're not doing well with the amount we currently have.
Or maybe it's not a question of accessibility but rather
a question of popularizing popular science, so to speak,
and making it clear for everyone that accepting the limitations
to our knowledge is not a bad thing after all,
and sometimes it's better to leave some issues in the hands of professionals.
Undeniably, we're not at home with this idea,
because the education system and many other outlets,
especially internet-based outlets,
have been encouraging us through the years
to think of ourselves and our views as special.
So, knowing all of that, what do people make of science.
Well, some of us don't understand it that much,
but we still trust it.
Others however, might perceive it as arbitrary, subjective assumptions
made and forced upon us by authority figures.
So scientists may come across as arrogant,
mainly because people don't understand how the process of developing theories works,
what the scientific method is and for that matter,
what peer review is or scientific consensus is.
I believe that's one of the most important things we should be
teaching at schools, because providing children with knowledge and ideas
is one thing but it would be appropriate,
I think, to teach how these facts and theories were shaped.
Now, it might seem that scientists are this bunch of
arrogant people, wearing glasses and white uniforms,
coming up with ideas and instantly deciding they are correct.
And the truth is exactly the opposite.
Science usually doesn't bear any hidden agenda.
I'd like to quote Richard Feynman on the scientific method and what's it all about
to make it a bit more clear for you.
"In general, we look for a new law by the following process.
First, we guess it. Then we compute the consequences of the guess,
to see what, if this law we get is right, to see what it would imply,
and then we compare the computation results to nature,
or we say, compare to experiment or experience,
compare it directly with observation to see if it works".
Okay, and here comes my favorite part, the beauty of science
and the part that so many people seem to be oblivious to.
"If it disagrees with experiment, it's wrong.
In that simple statement is the key to science.
It doesn't make any difference how beautiful your guess is,
it doesn't matter how smart you are, who made the guess,
or what his name is. if it disagrees with experiment, it's wrong.
That's all there is to it".
End of quote.
And please, don't give me the 'scientists are paid by the government to control us
and to depopulate the earth' because that's
another conspiracy theory, okay?
"Nature wants five of your seven children dead,
it wants you dead by 50, and everything
better than that is brought to you by
science and technology".
So there goes your theory about the fearsome science.
Out the window. You wouldn't be listening to this podcast if it wasn't for science.
And I always love it how those that oppose
science so very much, always do it via iPhones and laptops
that were brought to them exclusively by science.
But, um... back to the point.
That's why you need to learn from conspiracy theorists.
You need to make it simple, you need to lay out
the connection between science and everyday life
and how it has improved life's quality for an average person,
especially knowing that these positive effects do not always show immediately.
Sometimes it's just serendipity.
All science wants to do is to work things out
and if you don't stress that often enough, people will
turn to conspiracy theories because they
create the illusion of being on your side not against you.
So let me give you a real life example. 50 years ago,
everything was a lot less complicated.
Most of the household appliances could be
understood by the common man.
When something broke down, you could have just opened it up and mess around with it.
Nowadays, you can't just open your laptop or your TV and fix it.
You have to hand it to a specialist
and sometimes it's even cheaper to buy a new device.
And another example - curing cancer with vitamin C.
Now, I know of various quacks
who encourage cancer patients to ditch
chemotherapy in favor of curing cancer
with intravenous vitamin C. And why do
people go for it even if it's not their
last resort? Well, because it's easier
to comprehend the mechanism and it's
seemingly natural as opposed to chemotherapy.
So to sum up, this undoubtedly is a subconscious process.
These people do not want to admit that
they can't grasp the intricacy of science, obviously.
And when you deconstruct all of the conspiracy theories out there,
it turns out they simplify everything,
blatantly disregarding physics, biology,
chemistry and much much more at the same time.
Before we jump to the next segment, just
a quick reminder that I'm still running
the campaign to help me fund my short
film about social anxiety in the mental
health series and we still got a long
way to go on the world wide version,
so please kindly consider contributing
if you haven't already because I won't be
able to make the film without your help
if we don't reach the goal. The links
are in the description.
And we've got ninety-four percent on the Polish version,
so to all my Polish people: thank you so much.
*Thank you so much, you can still donate,
and let's move on*.
Okay, so moving on to the next part
which will be about low self-esteem, big
ego and the need to belong.
Now these are all very much interconnected.
So through becoming a conspiracy theorist,
you automatically join a rather small
group of people, at least I hope these
groups are still small. But you join
a group of people who share similar views.
Now, I'm not sure if you've noticed it, but
they have a tendency to feel superior
and smarter than the rest of us, they are
awakened to the truth, while we,
the idiots, we remain asleep and we are being
continuously manipulated by the government.
Is there a better way to make up for your low self-esteem
than to join such a group? And the sense
of belonging is probably self-explanatory.
I recall reading a study or an article on
how many of the believers, let's call them that,
tend to be alienated in some sort of way,
mainly in real life.
They are all mutually supportive, always on the same side,
ready to put themselves on the line to defend the whole group.
Maybe this also provides some sort of false
sense of meaning in life. I don't know.
And huge ego is quite obvious as well,
I think. So if you think you're special,
it's only natural you'll be drawn to
the idea of being a part of a selected group of individuals,
whom I personally like to call the insufferable know-it-all type.
And it's no secret that a true, wise man will always question himself
while the fool is always so boundlessly confident.
Moving on to part three which I think is a bit abstract,
but I want to discuss the idea of
becoming a rebel for no apparent reason.
I've noticed that this is quite common
in science and in politics.
So to give you an example, it doesn't matter who's in power at the moment,
these people love swimming against the current.
They don't do it because they have a strict set of rules that might not go along with
the government's agenda. They simply feel the need
to rebel, to criticize. I have no idea what's so appealing about it.
Maybe it's the adrenaline rush
or the idea of being different.
Maybe, yet again, this gives a false sense of meaning to their lives.
Maybe they feel smarter, maybe they
feel superior. I don't know.
I know however that there is an excellent quote
in 1984 by 'Orwell' that describes
these phenomena beautifully, and it's when
Winston tells Julia: "you're only a rebel
from the waist downwards".
And in that simple sentence is the essence of this short little segment.
And number four, a bonus part, not exactly related to conspiracy theories.
It's more about living in denial and mistrusting science.
Although... it doesn't apply in all cases,
but it does work nicely with climate change
and other environmental issues.
And the point is: people are lazy.
We are comfortable and we don't want to make an effort.
We love the status quo.
Now, once you accept that climate change is real
and human activities contribute to it,
causing climate change to accelerate at unprecedented rate,
you automatically feel the need to do something about it,
or at least you should.
The most effective solution to this
problem can be introduced only by
the governments. But politicians can be placed under obligations
only when the people show their discontent.
But despite that fact, there's still so much you can do about it
on your own, without asking for permission.
You can use public transportation, you can drink tap water,
you can ditch foods produced with palm oil,
you can go vegetarian, vegan or
at least cut down on the amount of meat
you consume. And you can vote.
But hey, all of that is unappealing.
It's easier to live in denial and continue consuming burgers with cheese and beef.
Before we end I'd just like to point out that
our reasoning tends to be flawed by all sorts of
cognitive biases. The confirmation and
conservatism biases are important here,
I think, because we love to be right
and we hate to be wrong.
And that explains why some people, even when they are presented with scientific evidence,
choose to look for flaws in theories
that oppose their convictions.
They want to carry on believing they are right.
And ultimately, this turns into a vicious
circle you simply cannot exit once
you're immersed in this world, which is
also why if you believe in one conspiracy theory,
it's very probable you believe in a couple more.
And to finish it off, on a side note, that's just my personal opinion,
so it's totally subjective, you're free to disagree,
but I think that most of these theories, these legends
and whatnot, even if they seem attractive some,
to me they are boring because they are not real.
Now the mysteries of the universe, that's
something worth discovering and devoting your time to.
I know, that sounded extremely cringey, but really
there are so many questions I find fascinating...
So in the next podcast,
if I make another one, I will be discussing my favorite ones
and I'll also explain why I'm so in love with science,
despite the fact I'm not particularly smart and
in many cases, understanding certain ideas
requires a lot of effort on my part and a lot of brainpower.
And I'll try to share my favorite sources of knowledge
for those that might be interested.
And on that note, I will end this podcast.
Thank you so much for listening and hopefully you've made it till the end,
or if you wanted to go to sleep, you're asleep by now.
So I will hear you in the next one.
And please remember about the social anxiety film.
Thank you so much, once again. Bye!
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