Our brain searches and sees patterns where none exist. Conspiracies?

All the talk about massive election fraud, QAnon, etc. reminds me of the days of McCarthyism, Kennedy assassination conspiracies, and fake moon landings. I have to confess I briefly thought my little hometown might have infiltrators after 9-11. Even very smart people can be enamored with these things. What is it about our brains that makes these things so easy to grab onto?

Scientists have found a module in the left hemisphere of the brain that drives humans to search for a pattern or causal relationship, even when there is no such thing. This part of our brain was life saving in our evolution as we learned about dangerous corners where tigers could lurk or that rain usually followed thunder. But we live in a much more complex world now and this part of our brain can send us false signals such as in stock prices trends or “hot dice” or even conspiracies'. Click here for a more comprehensive discussion on pattern seeking problems.

In any case, recognizing we all have pattern seeking problems may help us think twice about patterns we think we see like conspiracy theories, and use the tools available to us to think with our rational brain instead of our pattern seeking brain.

Northern Illinois University Professor David Valentiner in his lecture shares the "fable" of the president of the Flat Earth Society:  As the story goes, the leader meets his death in a motorcycle accident and is greeted by angles at the pearly gates gasping, "Wait! This wasn't supposed to happen."  They take him to God who confirms it was not his time to die.   God points over the edge of the cloud to the beautiful blue spinning marble of the earth.  God says, "Tell them what you've seen and how beautiful the sphere of earth is."  In a flash the president wakes up on earth and immediately calls his group together: "The conspiracy goes much higher than we ever imagined!"