Why brain coach doesn’t believe in any conspiracy theories.
After learning much more about the brain I realized that conspiracy theories are almost impossible because there are many much more likely to happen things.
Let’s start with the definition.
Conspiracy is "a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful."
So why don’t I believe they can really exist on a global level? (Even though all people are conspiring all the time, and often it is harmful to someone else!)
1. PATTERNS
The brain has the property to jump to conclusions and shortcuts, to try to recognize patterns in images, behaviors, historical events to be able to better predict how to react in any situation to avoid danger, to get after more possible opportunities earlier and to save or get more energy.
Have you ever looked at some clouds and could swear they look like a rabbit but somebody who you told about that couldn’t see a thing?
That’s not because you have a better vision - it’s just your brain created a pattern connecting the dots in a specific way for one reason or the other.
Same with conspiracies: people who see a lot of them tend to have a higher degree of seeing patterns anywhere, dopamine levels seem to have a lot to do with it - but that doesn’t mean there’s an actual rabbit in the sky.
“We’re looking for patterns all the time.
Now, here’s why slot machines and other gambling apparatus are so sinister. The machines are full of stimuli for our brains to latch onto. Bells, sirens, ringing, lights, spinning things, etc. Then when we get the reward (when we win some money), we look back and see all of the things that the machine did, and our brains start to shoot out dopamine when we see the bells and lights.
The problem is – slot machines are completely random. There is no pattern. So our brains are constantly correcting and readjusting to new signals to try to figure out what led to us winning money. Gambling addicts are, in effect, endlessly trying to find a pattern where there is none.”
2. PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE
No matter how much money, power, prestige they have - they are the same people who have stress in life, who are struggling with things, who are trying to maintain status, take care of their families, make more money, get more comfort, people who get emotional, people who make decisions prioritizing short term, people who are low on energy often, go into defense mode and accumulate mode anytime they feel threatened - people who are just trying to do their best, taking care of themselves, very often drowning in the complexity of life and decisions they have to be responsible for.
So when you see “evil plans” remember, there might be a bunch of stressed, not in good health, underslept and anxious human beings out there - they are just trying to survive in their own bubble.
"Evil corporations" are full of people who just want to keep their job and their world from collapsing.
3. GROUP THINK AND PEOPLE MAKE MISTAKES
“Groupthink is a phenomenon that occurs when the desire for group consensus overrides the members’ willingness to present alternative ideas, critique each other’s ideas, or express contrarian opinions.”
People are surprisingly easily convinced that something is right just because the group thinks so. It happens automatically. Something just starts looking right when people around you say it’s right.
“In 50 percent of the trials, the people who participated in this experiment at HSE University changed their opinion. They revised their scores to bring them more in line with what the other subjects believed about the trustworthiness of the strangers. Here’s where things really get weird. This experiment was the first time that researchers used magnetoencephalographic (MEG) source imaging to observe long-term neural correlates of social conformity occurring in real time in the brain. They saw astounding evidence of why we’re so vulnerable to group-think. Whenever subjects adjusted their scores to bring them in line with how other participants assessed the strangers, the subjects’ brain pleasure centers lit up like pinball machines.”
So what it means is that if some people in a group (designing some treatments for example) think it’s a great idea, a lot of people will agree with that because they want to “fit in”. It starts seeming just the right thing to do. And then it snowballs, more and more people start saying the same thing and they honestly believe in the right course of action.
Nobody makes conspiracy theories - people make mistakes at the top and the rest just naturally agree just like anyone of you agrees with the group’s opinion of your peers. Tribal thinking! You still are a caveman. And so is every one of us.
Because of this evidence I never listen to any conspiracy theories. People make mistakes. People repeat each other’s opinions to fit in. People are stressed and not in their best health just trying to survive.
Any thoughts?
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