By Graham Lawton
Staff Writer
New Scientist
Is covid-19 caused by the 5G phone network, or the product of a secret Chinese bioweapons program? No. There is no evidence that either of these claims are true, but to some people that very lack of evidence is itself clear evidence of a cover up. Welcome to the paranoid, topsy-turvy world of the conspiracy theory.
Think of any major world event and there is almost certainly at least one conspiracy theory to explain it. The list is almost endless: the Apollo moon landings were faked, 9/11 was an inside job, climate change is a hoax, JFK was assassinated by the CIA, the earth is flat, the pharmaceutical industry is suppressing a cure for cancer, vaccines cause autism, Princess Diana was murdered by the royal family, Barak Obama was born in Kenya and is secretly a Muslim, the world is ruled by lizards. Many of these “theories” – the word is used in its colloquial sense rather than the strict scientific one, they should really be called “conspiracy hypotheses” – concern matters of science or medicine.
It is easy to dismiss conspiracy theories as unhinged beliefs held by a small number of paranoid idiots, but that seriously underestimates them. Belief in conspiracy theories is very widespread, the product of normal human psychology, and extremely influential and dangerous.
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