Answered from The Story of Stories · Hidden Brain · 2026-10-26
Tania Lombrozo, offering what she calls a somewhat speculative idea, says conspiracy theories take many observations that have separate or chance causes and tie them all to one group with one intention. That makes them simple at the root yet very complicated in the details. Shankar Vedantam used the 9/11 conspiracy theories as the example, arguing that hundreds or thousands of officials could not keep such a secret.
Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on Hidden Brain (2026-10-26). Read the whole episode summary →