You Are Not So Smart 016 - Conspiracy Theories - Steven Novella and Jesse Walker
Jan 16, 2014
Guests Steven Novella and Jesse Walker discuss the allure and harm of conspiracy theories, the fascination with the JFK assassination, the importance of scientific literacy, and the cognitive limitations of social networks.
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Conspiracy Thinking As Cultural Folklore
- Jesse Walker frames conspiracy thinking as a cultural constant that reveals social anxieties across eras.
- He compares conspiratorial belief to folklore and animism, projecting agency onto social forces.
Four Patterns Of Conspiratorial Targets
- Walker categorizes conspiracies as enemies above, below, within, and benevolent/malevolent overarching plots.
- These categories map how fears attach to different social strata and historical moments.
Big Events Invite Big-Cause Intuition
- Novella explains JFK conspiracism arises from emotional mismatch: big events feel like they require big causes.
- He shows that anomaly-hunting replaces evidence-based inference, producing false conspiracies.