90% of Americans believe at least one conspiracy theory

guidomerkinsrules said
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)

Alan Moore said this was the conclusion he arrived at while researching conspiracies for a bunch of his works. That they were attractive to people because they created the illusion of an ordered world instead of a chaotic one, and the idea of a shadowy, string pulling force being the cause of all the world's horrors was ultimately more comforting than acknowleding the much more terrifying reality that no one is really in control, at least not to that level, and that at the end of the day the world is just a dangerous, deadly place where bad things happen without rhyme or reason