1
00:00:00,250 --> 00:00:01,827
Yes. We are on the bed.

2
00:00:01,827 --> 00:00:04,380
You could call it an homage
to old YouTube.

3
00:00:04,380 --> 00:00:05,234
I call it...

4
00:00:05,234 --> 00:00:06,996
comfortable for my butt.

5
00:00:06,996 --> 00:00:08,256
Conspiracy theories.

6
00:00:08,256 --> 00:00:10,686
So as somebody who's lost, like, 
many a night

7
00:00:10,686 --> 00:00:12,726
tumbling down Wikipedia
rabbit holes,

8
00:00:12,726 --> 00:00:14,956
I- I love a good conspiracy theory.

9
00:00:14,956 --> 00:00:16,808
It's like, "Ooh, aliens!"

10
00:00:16,808 --> 00:00:19,654
"Ooh, how do people make
such big triangles?"

11
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I think that that it's just fun

12
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imagining the world
to be more interesting

13
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than what I was taught.

14
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But then something weird happened?

15
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A couple weeks ago,
I found myself

16
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in the middle of
a conspiracy theory.

17
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And then, all of the fun
was replaced with just...

18
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pure confusion.

19
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The conspiracy itself is, like,
weird and fun and innocuous.

20
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However, what I really
cared about is, like,

21
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how do you get to that point?

22
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How do you start seeing signs
that were never there to begin with.

23
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That's what I want to know.

24
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And I also want to, like, disprove
this whole conspiracy theory

25
00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:51,590
'cause it's whack.

26
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However, as the person
in, in the middle of all of this,

27
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I can imagine why I'd be
seen as unreliable.

28
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So...

29
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...I'm calling on a friend!

30
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Uhh, I don't know how to put this.
How do you put this?

31
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People think that I am
part of the Illuminati.

32
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Uh-

33
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Well, are you?

34
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[laughs]

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00:01:10,543 --> 00:01:12,192
This is just one of the comments,

36
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but I think it really
summarizes the issue.

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"I find this channel to
be highly disingenuous-"

38
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"-Corporate product masked
to have the appearance of

39
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an independently run YouTube channel."
"There's no way a single person is that skilled

40
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at animation, editing, presenting, research-"
"Everything is too professional for that-"

41
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"There's no way this girl
is the one who did this"

42
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"A production company put this video
together with you just as a host."

43
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So now- Now...
Now what?

44
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Why am I calling you? Right?

45
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Yeah. I'm, like, "How do you
want me to prove this?"

46
00:01:39,893 --> 00:01:46,803
I am wondering if you could explain
to me and the viewers of this video,

47
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how could somebody see
something so mundane

48
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that's just, like, a part
of my life, I guess.

49
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How could someone see that
and think, like, "There must be more."

50
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I'm interested. I'm fascinated.

51
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'Cause I'm, like...

52
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I'm not only interested in your
conspiracy, as interesting as it is.

53
00:02:02,745 --> 00:02:05,905
I think conspiracies have a, have a
knack for, especially nowadays,

54
00:02:05,905 --> 00:02:07,155
to just....

55
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just ruin people's lives,
you know?

56
00:02:09,755 --> 00:02:12,865
I'm gonna solve this mystery.
♪ Scooby-dooby-doo ♪

57
00:02:12,865 --> 00:02:14,797
We don't have the copyright on that.

58
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We're going to investigate
this conundrum. I'm-I'm-

59
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You're doubling down on it, I see.

60
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Hello, I'm Taha.

61
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I'm apparently Sabrina's
only British friend.

62
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I've been given free reign
over this part of the video,

63
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so, welcome to my chaos.

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Sabrina's asked me to get into
the mind of a Sabrina Cruz truther

65
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and figure out what's going on.

66
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Okay, hold on.

67
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It needs pictures.

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Let's read some conspiracy theories.

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"This is a fake channel

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A propaganda channel paid by others.

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Why the spotty uploads?"

72
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Maybe because it's-
it's just one person?

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I love this one.

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"Who do you work for?

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We all know this isn't your channel.
Whose script are you reading?"

76
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"I think she works for the government."

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Oh. This is the best one.

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"Her main channel is crash course
with 10 million subs."

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John and Hank Green,
eat your heart out.

80
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Okay, so basically,

81
00:03:03,352 --> 00:03:06,470
people think that Sabrina
doesn't make her own videos,

82
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that she's a presenter,
that maybe she works for the government.

83
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How did people get here?

84
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Let's figure it out.

85
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Okay. So, here's what I found out.

86
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There are loads of ways to define
conspiracy theories,

87
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but they all kind of boil down
to the same thing.

88
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It's basically the belief that
a group of people

89
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are secretly working together
to do something bad.

90
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But here's the thing:

91
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When we talk about conspiracy theories,

92
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we aren't talking about every time
anyone has ever got together

93
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to secretly do bad things.

94
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So what are people talking about
when they say "conspiracy theory"?

95
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Or when they talk about conspiracy
theories on the internet?

96
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They talk about a specific type
of conspiracy theory.

97
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It's the type of conspiracy theory that
Sabrina is in the middle of right now.

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These conspiracy theories
seem to be unlikely by design.

99
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Here's the really interesting thing that I found.

100
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These theories have pretty distinctive
features that you can spot

101
00:04:06,787 --> 00:04:09,967
and these features make them
not only unlikely to be true

102
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but also difficult to argue against.

103
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These features are that
they are speculative,

104
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based on educated, or,
not-so-educated guesswork

105
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rather than solid evidence.

106
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The rationale being that
if a conspiracy was successful

107
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then it wouldn't have left a trace.

108
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They can become contrarian.

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They form in opposition to the
obvious or official explanation.

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Conspiracy theories will dismiss
this explanation, citing

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"That's what they want you to think."

112
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Because of this, theories
can become esoteric.

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If the obvious explanation isn't true,
then the theory is based on speculation.

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The conspiracy theory can run wild.

115
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Explanations can become increasingly
detached from reality.

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Theories are also amateurish.

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Now, that isn't a comment on
a theorist's intelligence.

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That's a comment on how qualified
these theorists are.

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In most cases, they don't have
the relevant expertise

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to be conclusively analyzing evidence.

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Even when they do,
they're in the small minority

122
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and the professional consensus
doesn't agree with them.

123
00:05:04,072 --> 00:05:06,872
And is it more likely that
all experts are lying

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or that most informed and qualified people
are coming to the same conclusion.

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Conspiracies can also become premodern.

126
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These conspiracies believe that
incredibly complex events

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can be controlled by a small number
of people acting in secret.

128
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Nothing is a coincidence
or a series of uncorrelated events,

129
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but a coordinated conspiracy.

130
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And lastly, these conspiracies
are self-sealing.

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What this means is that

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the conspiracy is difficult
to argue against.

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If a conspiracy is based on speculation,

134
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it dismisses the obvious explanation
in favor of a more obscure one.

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if it ignores expert consensus

136
00:05:40,655 --> 00:05:44,683
and believes that a small group of people
can control complex events,

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any explanation against the conspiracy
is just "what they want you to think."

138
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Now, that doesn't mean that every time
you hear the words "conspiracy theory"

139
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you should just dismiss it.

140
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Because we know that throughout history,
there are well-documented conspiracies.

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I find this really interesting concept

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that distinguish between
conspiracy theory and conspiracy fact.

143
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Essentially, when you have
a bunch of solid evidence

144
00:06:02,321 --> 00:06:04,531
that supports the fact
that a conspiracy occurred,

145
00:06:04,531 --> 00:06:06,011
you can consider it fact.

146
00:06:06,011 --> 00:06:08,241
But it isn't sensible to believe
conspiracy theories,

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00:06:08,241 --> 00:06:11,611
the ones that tick all of the boxes
that make them unbelievable.

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And not unbelievable in a way like,
"Oh, that's unbelievable!"

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In a way that's like,
"I don't believe you."

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And even if conspiracy theories
aren't true,

151
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they still have a function.

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00:06:20,792 --> 00:06:23,122
Not a good function,
but still a function.

153
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So, what is it?

154
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People believe conspiracies

155
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that reinforce their
political or ideological bias.

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Nobody's believing a conspiracy theory

157
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that goes against what they think
the world is like.

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We see patterns and theories that
reinforce our ideology

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and we're happy to get onboard.

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In this way, conspiracy theories
are a type of ideological propaganda.

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By spreading the theory, you also end up
spreading your own world view.

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In order to believe a theory,

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you have to believe that
the world is a certain way.

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So, by convincing people
of your conspiracy theory,

165
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you are also implicitly convincing them
that the world is the way

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that you believe it to be.

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Okay. So, in the process of
researching this video,

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I ended up going down a lot
of conspiracy theory rabbit holes.

169
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Some of them I obviously know were untrue,
but others I thought,

170
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"Maybe they could be true?"

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That was kind of scary to me.

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And I wanted to find out what it was
about conspiracy theories

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that made them so... attractive.

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And that's when I got into the
psychology of conspiracy theories.

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There are 2 key psychological phenomenon
that drive a natural inclination

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towards conspiracy theories.

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First is "pattern perception".

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We're bad at recognizing randomness.

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Instead, we are more likely to see
a pattern when there is none.

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And, secondly, is "agency detection".

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We tend to think that events occur
due to agents acting intentionally,

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rather than recognizing neutral
or coincidental occurrences.

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These 2 phenomena are compounded
by cognitive biases

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that make conspiracy theories believable.

185
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These include "proportionality bias,"

186
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which leads to thinking that
the cause of an event

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has to be as big as its consequences.

188
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When the explanation is not as grand
as the event itself,

189
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people can find it difficult to believe.

190
00:08:00,417 --> 00:08:04,482
This means we assume things happen
on purpose rather than by accident.

191
00:08:04,482 --> 00:08:07,936
When the conspiracy explains
how something was intentional,

192
00:08:07,936 --> 00:08:10,376
believing that it was an accident
becomes difficult.

193
00:08:10,376 --> 00:08:13,267
"Confirmation bias" means that
once we believe a conspiracy,

194
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we tend to only pay attention to
evidence that supports our conclusion.

195
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So, now I know why my brain
thinks the way it does.

196
00:08:19,487 --> 00:08:21,481
But doesn't necessarily change the fact

197
00:08:21,481 --> 00:08:24,472
that I still felt like those
conspiracy theories were true.

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00:08:24,472 --> 00:08:25,572
So, now what?

199
00:08:25,572 --> 00:08:26,962
Here is where it gets interesting.

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00:08:27,162 --> 00:08:29,502
One of the books I ended up
reading for this video...

201
00:08:30,022 --> 00:08:31,546
was written by a professor

202
00:08:31,546 --> 00:08:33,286
that I had last year at university.

203
00:08:33,286 --> 00:08:35,240
So, I just asked him.

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00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:37,401
This is Quassim Cassam,

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00:08:37,401 --> 00:08:40,431
a professor of Philosophy
at the Universtiy of Warwick.

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00:08:40,431 --> 00:08:42,980
His main research interests are knowledge,

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00:08:42,980 --> 00:08:43,760
perception,

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00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:45,500
intellectual vices, and

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00:08:45,500 --> 00:08:47,020
conspiracy theories.

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00:08:47,020 --> 00:08:48,500
I also owe him an essay.

211
00:08:48,500 --> 00:08:50,850
So, yeah, my sort of, like,
initial question

212
00:08:50,850 --> 00:08:53,410
that I didn't know how to
tackle myself was just...

213
00:08:53,830 --> 00:08:57,360
how do you think about
being healthily skeptical

214
00:08:57,360 --> 00:08:59,541
versus, sort of, 
unnecessarily conspiratorial?

215
00:08:59,541 --> 00:09:00,238
[Quassim:] Right

216
00:09:00,238 --> 00:09:01,761
I think that lots of people

217
00:09:01,761 --> 00:09:03,063
that believe conspiracy theories,

218
00:09:03,063 --> 00:09:05,860
think that it's a good way to 
express their skepticism

219
00:09:05,860 --> 00:09:08,655
and lack of trust in government 
and authority.

220
00:09:08,655 --> 00:09:10,819
My own view is that, is that, well,

221
00:09:10,819 --> 00:09:12,022
of course it's a very good thing

222
00:09:12,022 --> 00:09:13,493
to hold an establishment to account.

223
00:09:13,493 --> 00:09:14,564
And it's very helpful

224
00:09:14,564 --> 00:09:17,598
when journalists and whistle-blowers
come up with evidence.

225
00:09:17,598 --> 00:09:18,847
I mean, I have to concede

226
00:09:18,847 --> 00:09:21,900
that- that- that the sources that 
I regard as trustworthy

227
00:09:21,900 --> 00:09:24,485
are of course sources that, 
to some extent,

228
00:09:24,485 --> 00:09:26,327
tell me the things I want to hear.

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It's very easy to get
sucked into the vortex,

230
00:09:28,793 --> 00:09:30,960
you know, so questions
you ask yourself,

231
00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:34,525
you know, with respect to your
own favorite conspiracy theory,

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00:09:34,525 --> 00:09:36,536
is that, well, what would
convince you that your theory

233
00:09:36,536 --> 00:09:37,416
is false?

234
00:09:37,416 --> 00:09:39,897
It- would anything convince you?
That your theory is false?

235
00:09:39,897 --> 00:09:43,223
If the answer is that, well, actually,
what anybody else comes up with,

236
00:09:43,223 --> 00:09:45,831
you're going to state your guards, 
you're going to continue to say

237
00:09:45,831 --> 00:09:49,269
there was a conspiracy,
well then, then that's the point

238
00:09:49,269 --> 00:09:51,810
at which you really need to kind of,
you know, pull yourself out, you know.

239
00:09:51,810 --> 00:09:54,257
But human beings are fallable, right.
We all make mistakes, you know,

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00:09:54,257 --> 00:09:58,751
We're all subject to biases
of all various kinds and wishful thinking.

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00:09:58,751 --> 00:10:01,299
The recommendation that I would make is:
just be aware of that.

242
00:10:01,299 --> 00:10:05,181
Be aware of these failings of people,
of human beings in general,

243
00:10:05,181 --> 00:10:06,893
including ourselves.

244
00:10:06,893 --> 00:10:08,774
Hello! Different angle.

245
00:10:08,774 --> 00:10:13,553
Yeah, basically, I was so stressed trying
to interview my professor

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and sound intellectual that I completely
forgot to record my thoughts,

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straight after my interview.

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I, I just lay down and took a nap.
So, yeah.

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I, I feel like I, I have a pretty
good idea of how conspiracy theories

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are formed, how conspiracy theorists think
about them, and,

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and why we think about them

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and I feel like I understand
what's going on in Sabrina's

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comment section.

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So, I guess the final thing to do
is to call Sabrina back and, and

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tell her everything we found out.

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[phone line ringing]

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Hello! How's it going?

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[Sabrina] Hello! I-

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[Taha] What's it like being
part of the government?

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[Sabrina] oh, are we doubling down on that?
Is that what ended up happening?

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You're just now a conspiracy theorist?

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[Taha] The, the fact is, that, like,
people do, throughout history,

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conspire to do bad things.

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It's not like that's unheard of.

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But some of those things are like,
verifiably true.

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Like they're-there's documented evidence,
there's whistle-blowers,

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Those can't be, like, put in the same
bucket as a conspiracy theory

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in the traditional sense.

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You know, it's important to
make that distinction.

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And then once you get into sort of 
the world of conspiracy theories,

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it's just a never-ending bucket of chaos.

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The thing that I discovered, which,
you're going to find very comforting,

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so, if you're a hardcore
conspiracy theorist,

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there's basically nothing you can
say to them that they will, will take

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on board because if you say anything
against any of the conspiracies

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they believe, they'll just say
"that's what they want you to think."

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[Sabrina] that's great. [laughs]

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[Taha:] essentially, for whatever reason,
it's more comfortable for them

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and their- the way they think
about the world

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to believe that you are, sort of,
like, part of the Illuminati.

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You know, a government mole,
than it is to just believe

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that you are a talented person.

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And, like, what are you
supposed to do with that?

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My, my lecturer, he did talk about
sort of, like, being conspiracy curious.

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He really emphasized the idea that,
um, a wise man porportions his

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beliefs to the evidence.

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And, what he meant by that was 
essentially, you know, is there evidence

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that I can, you know, rely on,
to

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conclude the things that I wanna conclude?

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Most people, like myself, are just
conspiracy curious.

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And now that I understand how conspiracies
come about, I can really quickly spot

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when I'm falling into these biases.

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So, just by learning about them, 
it's, like, really opened my eye into all

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of these ways that I can be biased,
and all of these ways that I am vulnerable

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to the conspiracy thinking.

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[Sabrina:] Well that's a good lesson.

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[Taha:] Thumbs up!

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[Sabrina:] Thanks, friend.

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Oh, my phone landed on my ankle
and it hurts so bad.

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That call was exactly what I expected,

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and exactly what I didn't wanna hear.

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I think what freaked me out the most is
just, like, how easy it seems to be to

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fall for conspiracy theories.

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And to think that our brain, like,
develops these tricks,

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presumably to help us survive, is now

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something we need to 
actively fight against.

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But you can't fight against it too hard,
or else you might become extremely skeptical.

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And believe in nothing.

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It's just so hard.

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And maybe the easiest thing to do,
at least in my case,

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in my very innocuous little
conspiracy theory case,

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is...

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to make them...

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00:13:23,528 --> 00:13:24,767
true!

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00:13:24,767 --> 00:13:26,999
Duh duh duh!
What could she possibly mean?

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I'll explain next week.

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But either way, have a lovely day!

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Please don't become a conspiracy theorist.
Take care of yourself

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and your little brain.

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Bye!