90% of Americans believe at least one conspiracy theory
People need things to happen for a reason. They need order and control.
The universe is neither. People invent ways to explain things so they can feel that whatever happening is happening for a reason - good or bad. It doesn't matter the reason or the motive behind the reason, as long as whatever it is explains why things happened. Logic need not apply.
Pandemic? Must be a global conspiracy because otherwise it is an uncontrollable global event that randomly happens throughout history.
9/11? Has to be the government because otherwise it is an event that was just an act of terrorists and that can happen anywhere at any time.
HIV? It had to be god punishing gays or the CIA or someone because otherwise there are horrible diseases out there that can randomly appear and cause a pandemic. Oh.
I wonder if the search for order/meaning might be the byproduct
Akin to saying humans crave sugar- maybe it’s rhetorical but I think it’s more like we crave energy and sugar just happens to be the biggest band for the buck (and modern processing techniques have made it so the basic human need is highly addicting)
So to the conspiracy stuff, maybe yearning for order is the byproduct (like you say, life is not orderly, so why would an organism crave what isn’t naturally occurring?)
I think what we respond to is efficiency
Aside from courtship, most organisms will try to satisfy their needs as efficiently as possible (predators will target the sick and old - many animals will take over existing shelter if it’s easier than making their own, et al)
So we hear a theory and we probably ask two questions: - does this answer a question?
- do I have to spend much brain energy on it?
(Note. Believing in a conspiracy is different than making one - the making of them is, by design, highly inefficient)