Michio Kaku Why flat-Earth theory and anti-vax conspiracies exist

  • 5 years ago
Have you ever seen animals when you look at clouds or seen faces in pieces of wood? That's called pareidolia: the phenomenon of making familiar objects from vague stimuli. This natural tendency is often involved in the creation of conspiracy theories.

In this video, theoretical physicist Dr. Michio Kaku explains how humans evolved to believe in nonsensical things, even despite evidence of the contrary, and why this ingrained tendency means individuals such as Flat Earthers and anti-vaxxers will likely still exist 1,000 years from now.

Is there any hope for reason to prevail? Of course. People just need to get savvy about good science, and be self-aware of our predisposition to believe in nonsense.

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