Most people are consumers rather than producers of conspiracy theories.

They do not come up with their own conspiracy theories but endorse those that are already in circulation and the public endorsement of the most popular conspiracy theories is growing.

When it comes to shaping the online conversation around climate change, deniers and conspiracy theorists hold an edge over those believing in science.

Most YouTube videos relating to climate change oppose the scientific consensus that it is primarily caused by Human activities.

You can either accept the science and say, ‘We have to deal with this problem,’ and then look for the solutions least offensive to your worldview.

Or you say, ‘The problem does not exist!’ You deny the problem. The moment you do that, you have to figure out how to justify that to yourself.

A conspiracy theory is a proposed plot by powerful people or organizations working together in secret to accomplish some (usually sinister) goal that is notoriously resistant to falsification, and that has new layers of conspiracy being added to rationalize each new piece of disconfirming evidence.

Once you believe that a massive, sinister conspiracy could be successfully executed in perfect secrecy suggests that many such plots are possible.

Conspiracy theories connect the dots of random events into meaningful patterns, and then infuse those patterns with intentional agency.

Add the confirmation bias (tendency to look for and find evidence for what you already believe) and the hindsight bias (after the fact explanation for what you already know happened), and you have the foundation for conspiratorial cognition.