The Irrational Ape: Why Flawed Logic Puts us all at Risk and How Critical Thinking Can Save the World

by David Robert Grimes

I’ve long been fascinated by how pervasive such conspiratorial views are and how they interfere with public understanding of science. This interest led me to write a 2016 scientific paper on the viability of conspiratorial beliefs, attempting to gauge whether such mass complicity by the world’s scientists would even be possible: could NASA fake the moon landings, or climate scientists perpetuate a global warming hoax? Constructing a simple mathematical model, the inescapable conclusion was that – even if all conspirators were skilled secret-keepers – large conspiracies were incredibly unlikely to endure for any appreciable timeframe.