Moon Landing Conspiracy Theory "Debunked”

A British scientist explain why the moon landings probably weren’t fake.

10:01 28 January 2016

Using a mathematical formula, a British scientist has “debunked” moon landing and other conspiracy theories.

 

Dr David Grimes said that a scheme is likely impossible to cover up for more than a decade if more than 1,000 people knew about it.

 

In the case of the moon landings, 400,000 people would have had to be in on the plot to fake Neil Armstrong making a history 47 years ago, making a hoax “eye-watering unlikely.”

 

Dr. Grimes said: "A number of conspiracy theories revolve around science. While believing the moon landings were faked may not be harmful, believing misinformation about vaccines can be fatal," he said.

 

"However, not every belief in a conspiracy is necessarily wrong - for example, the Snowden revelations confirmed some theories about the activities of the US National Security Agency.

 

"It is common to dismiss conspiracy theories and their proponents out of hand, but I wanted to take the opposite approach - to see how these conspiracies might be possible. To do that, I looked at the vital requirement for a viable conspiracy - secrecy."

 

"This will of course not convince everyone; there's ample evidence that belief in conspiracy is often ideological rather than rational, and that conspiracy theories thrive in an echo chamber," he said.

 

"To this end, we need to better understand how and why some ideas are entrenched and persistent among certain groups despite the evidence, and how we might counteract this."