Why People Cling To Conspiracy Theories

As a weather and climate scientist, I am quite familiar with conspiracy theories. I consistently debunk claims about HAARP, cloud seeding, climate change and other things. People cling to conspiracy theories for various reasons including fear, science literacy deficiency, cognitive biases, personal challenges and the inability to identify bad information on the internet. They also exhibit belief bias, which means if something supports what a person already believes or wants to believe, they rationalize it at all costs.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, irrational conspiracy theories and belief bias were on full display. The combination of fear, economic challenges and complex science made conspiracy theories and other alternative realities seem accessible or like “soothing balm” in a very uncertain time.

Other studies have found that people succumb to fake news because of something called “reflexive open-mindedness” or the inability to reject weak claims. Social media and the internet amplify this because it makes all information seem “equal” or “credible.”

Just a few months ago, NASA debunked false claims made by an influencer about the Apollo moon landings. Sean Duffy was interim NASA administrator at the time. He posted on X, “Yes, @KimKardashian, we’ve been to the Moon before… 6 times! And even better: NASAArtemis is going back.” As much as it pains me to admit, I hear such ridiculous claims about moon landings from people within my own personal circle. Yikes! The most pervasive claims argue:

• Moon landing photos or videos were produced in Hollywood studios to win the Space Race.
• Humans could not survive radiation exposure.
• There are inconsistencies in photos like lack of stars in the background and footprint oddities on the surface.

“Every single argument claiming NASA faked the moon landings has been discredited,” wrote the Institute of Physics.

The Most Compelling Evidence Is Unfamiliar To Most People

I have always found one of the most definitive and compelling pieces of evidence to be the lunar laser ranging retroreflectors that astronauts left on the moon. What are those? “During three U.S. Apollo missions (11, 14, and 15) and two unmanned Soviet missions (Luna 17 and Luna 21), retro-reflectors were deployed near the landing sites between 1969 and 1973,” according to NASA’s website. These instruments are still being used today in space geodetic studies and to determine attributes of the moon.

“Laser ranging to the Moon remains active today, with follow-up retroreflectors placed by Apollo 14, Apollo 15, and Soviet missions,” wrote the IEEE Photonics Society in its 60th anniversary recognition of the Apollo 11 LURE experiment. “It validated fundamental theories of gravitation, contributed to the early understanding of continental drift, and helped refine models of lunar and Earth dynamics.”

We know more about Earth’s precession, tides and other relevant discoveries because of our continuing ability to fire lasers at the lunar laser ranging retroreflectors placed on the moon. By the way, here’s the breaking news for some folks. They didn’t levitate there or get transported by the moon fairy.

It’s exciting to see what the next phase of lunar exploration brings as Artemis builds an eventual pathway to Mars and beyond.