I’m a great fan of conspiracy theories. I find them fascinating, but they all break a basic philosophical principal – that of Occam’s Razor. This states that ‘when there are two theories or explanations, all other things being equal, the simpler one is to be prefered’.Occam’s Razor is named after the medieval monk William of Occam. He believed that when looking at problems, you should strip away all the layers of complexity (using his ‘Razor‘), until finally you are left with the kernel of truth.

 

Occam’s Razor is one of the most successful methods of natural philosophy that mankind has yet devised, it is also a basic tenent of the scientific method. So why does every conspiracy theory break this rule? Here’s a classic example:

‘The Moon Landings were Faked’ Conspiracy

There are a number of people who don’t believe that America landed men on the moon, instead they think it was faked by using a film stage set. This conspiracy is so popular Hollywood even produced a film based on it called ‘Capricorn One’. Let’s look at a couple of the ‘proofs’ cited;

There are no stars in the background of any of the Moon photographs. REASON: There is no atmosphere on the moon, so sunshine hitting the surface is very bright. The only way to prevent photos being over-exposed, is to take them with a very fast shutter speed, which means that the faint light from stars cannot register.

The flag is moving despite the Moon having no atmosphere. REASON: it was designed to move! There was a horizontal pole sewn into the top of the flag to keep it upright. Once the flag had been unfurled and shaken free, there was no atmosphere to stop the natural waving motion occuring. The very weak moon gravity also helped.

The Theory of Relativity is not exactly easy to understand but even Einstein said;  ”Theories should be as simple as possible, but no simpler”. All conspiracy theories break the Occam’s Razor rule, as they are far more complex than the simple truth.

John McNally