Everything's a conspiracy theory when you don't understand how anything works.

We've all seen it. Someone on Facebook shares a blurry photo of a cloud and declares it proof of chemtrails. Another insists the Earth is flat because "airplanes don't dip their noses." A third shares a reel about vaccines and whispers, "Do your research," as if watching a TikTok video from a shirtless guy in a Jeep is the same as reading The Lancet.

It's easy to laugh, and I often do, but there's a real lesson here, especially for those of us in tech, business, or any domain where complexity can be intimidating. When you don't understand how a system works, it's natural to fill in the gaps with fear, speculation, or outright fantasy. That's how you end up with conspiracy theories. And unfortunately, the less someone understands a topic, the more confident they often are in their opinion about it. (1)

This hits close to home for me in the IT world. One of the oldest tech conspiracy theories out there is that "you can get a virus just by downloading a video or an MP3." The truth is, media files like MP4s and MP3s don't execute code - they play it. They're not little trojan horses lurking on your hard drive, waiting to spring to life. Sure, some shady websites might trick you into clicking fake download buttons or bundling malware with a sketchy installer, but that's not the same as the media file itself being infected. The belief sticks around because it sounds techy and scary, and most people don't actually know how file types work. And when people don't understand how things work, it's easy for superstition to fill the gaps.

The same applies to fitness and nutrition. Everyone's suddenly an expert because they watched a video on how "seed oils are poison" or how "you can lose weight without eating fewer calories because..." And look, I've done the work. I've tracked my own numbers, watched the scale, changed my macros, measured progress. That's actual experimentation. That's evidence. If you say you've "done the research," great. Where was it published? Was it peer-reviewed? Did it survive scrutiny from people who weren't already trying to sell you collagen gummies?

In your personal life, the stakes can get even higher. We've seen people refuse critical medical care for their kids, cut off family members, or stockpile weapons in the woods because they're following breadcrumbs from some guy on Reddit named "CryptoJesus69." All because they don't trust what they don't understand. They've confused skepticism with cynicism.

Star Trek knew this too. Remember in The Galileo Seven, when Spock's logical decisions were questioned by the crew because they didn't understand Vulcan reasoning? Or when Kirk faced down an alien god claiming to be Apollo, and instead of assuming it was magic, he asked for evidence? Starfleet officers don't jump to conclusions (usually). They analyze the data. They question, test, verify. That's the kind of thinking that built the Federation.

And it's the kind of healthy, skeptical thinking that builds good software. Or runs a successful business. Or leads a healthy life.

So here's today's lesson: if something doesn't make sense, don't assume it's a conspiracy. Assume you're missing information. Learn. Ask questions. Look deeper. Independent thought isn't about rejecting everything - it's about not accepting anything blindly, whether it's from a government official or a guy in a garage with a green screen and a whiteboard.

Because the problem isn't just misinformation. It's overconfidence powered by undereducation. And no, watching a few TikTok videos doesn't count as "doing your research." It counts as scrolling. If you really want to understand how the world works, learn how the systems work - scientific, medical, political, technological. Read boring papers. Follow experts who argue with each other. That's where the truth usually lives: somewhere between the shouting matches.

And if you're still not sure? Ask your local IT guy.

LLAP
RR

(1) "The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt." This is usually attributed to Bertrand Russell, the British philosopher and logician. It's a loose summary of something he said in his 1933 essay The Triumph of Stupidity, and it's also echoed in other writings and speeches of his from that era. Russell's deeper point was about intellectual humility: smart people tend to see complexity and nuance, which makes them less certain. Meanwhile, people who don't understand a topic often see it as simple - and that false confidence can be dangerous.