If you believe the earth is flat, you are choosing to trust certain conspiracy websites, and your eyes (the earth looks flat), and your senses (you cannot feel it spinning at 1000 mph or orbiting at 67,000 mph). But if you believe the earth is round, that’s a choice too. Unless you have been to space firsthand, you cannot actually prove the photographic evidence is not an elaborate conspiracy. And you probably cannot explain exactly how the star positions prove the earth’s movement, or the math necessary to prove it. So instead you make a choice to trust the scientists and teachers and books and photos and videos.

Any fact can be questioned and doubted, so ultimately all that matters within the confines of your mortal mind is what you choose to believe is fact. That makes it easy and tempting to choose to believe you are better than average, or even the most awesomist at something. Some evidence will support that, and some will not, so you pick and choose.

Research shows most people overestimate themselves, and that this sort of positivity is a good thing . . . if not overdone. Our inflated confidence powers our ambition to face challenges, while the cold realistic probability of failure would keep us planted on our couches.

But of course there’s inflated and then there’s overinflated. People easily get entrenched in dogma, because at some point it is too painful to reverse longheld beliefs. For any given topic, our ego rarely lets us admit that we made a huge mistake and have been wrong for years. So instead we double-down and argue even more fiercely, like a cornered raccoon hopped up on corn syrup.

Ego also explains why so many people believe conspiracy and crackpot theories. It’s a much easier choice to accept the established facts, so why would anyone choose a belief that makes them the target of scathing insults and arguments? Answer: ego. If you choose the mainstream belief, then you’re just part of the herd, nothing special. But if you believe a conspiracy/crackpot theory, then you feel like you’re one of an elite few who know a profound truth, an independent thinker smarter than all the gullible sheeple. (Wanting explanations and control may also be bait for certain types of theories, but a thirsty ego is the universal ingredient in all of them.)

Beliefs can also get baked into our identity, like “I am a vegan social justice warrior” or “I am a patriotic anti-vaxxer” or “I am a great karaoke singer”. If you change your beliefs, you have to change part of your identity too, which is about as difficult as face transplant surgery. So keeping your beliefs is the easier path of least resistance.

These reasons are why it’s usually counter-productive to debate politics, religion, conspiracies, or whether Marvel or D.C. comics are better.

Also humans are born with no innate ability to distinguish fact from opinion. A young kid can argue firmly that red is the best color without any concept of evidence or proof. And this fallacy continues into adulthood: “I know it in my heart” is the supposed evidence for so many arguments. If you have already accepted opinion as fact, there is no benefit to seeking evidence: at worst you risk proving yourself wrong, and at best it changes nothing, so why risk it?

“They may look at a complex problem like politics and declare that the solution is actually simple.”

People prefer simple answers over overwhelming complexity, so it’s an especially easy way for politicians to make a broad appeal.

“Or they may look at a simple activity like breathing and say the technique is actually complex.”

I’ve heard singing coaches and yogis declare so much misinformation about the lungs and diaphragm. Apparently saying “bigger breath” doesn’t make you sound like an expert, but a much more complex explanation makes a more convincing sales pitch.