[CliffFletcher]

Conspiracy theories are a psychological response to two common human needs: control and agency. People who feel they don't have any control over their lives are drawn to conspiracy theories because it's a way to make sense of the world. And we're hard-wired to look for agency in important events, even where there's no evidence of agency. Not coincidentally, those are also two of the reasons humans invented religion. The crops failed because we didn't appease Huitzilopochtli with sufficient sacrifices, not because crops rely on unpredictable weather patterns that we have no control over. God must have a plan for me, else all this suffering I've seen has no meaning.

The modern notions of powerful elites controlling the world rely on believing that these elites are nothing like us. That they posses far greater discipline and discretion than you and I (not to mention ruthlessness). It's tempting to feel that way if you think you have no power, and feel a gulf between you and the rich and powerful.

But they're not much different from us. They aren't the Borg. They work in institutions rife with cliques, jealousies, and resentments. They go home every night and try to blunt their anxieties with whatever means are at hand - alcohol, affairs, buying stuff they don't need and don't enjoy for long. They may have vast amounts of money, but their kids are drug-addled imbeciles. They're on their second or third wife. They have irritable bowel syndrome. They suffer from depression.

History shows us the enduring folly of even the most powerful people and organizations. Kings throwing away everything because of infatuations with the wrong women. Braintrusts draining the resources of their country in wars they can't win. Careers destroyed by hubris.

And of course, they can't keep secrets any better than the rest of us. They boast to friends. Confess to spouses. They trust doofus underlings who screw everything up. We all know that once three people are in on a secret, the odds if staying with only those three are almost zero.

But I don't expect conspiracy theories and theorists will go away, any more than I expect religion to go away. And there's about as much point in arguing with a conspiracy theorist over his beliefs as there is in arguing with a devoutly religious person about hers. You can't reason people out of beliefs didn't reason themselves into in the first place.