Conspiracy Theories Versus Reality

I was talking with a friend of mine recently and out of the blue she made the claim that all over the world scientists are being killed in order to ensure their discoveries are kept secret. She cited a story she’d heard first from a homeless paranoiac and later from a wealthy socialite on a yacht: a scientist in the USA had discovered a cure for cancer but was killed because Big Pharma doesn’t want cancer cured. Big Pharma, according to the story, wants to sell lifetime prescriptions for drugs and anything that cures cancer would get in the way of this goal.

She was vehemently attached to her idea and quickly became angry and then furious when I expressed skepticism. The fact that I’ve worked in the world of cellular biology and know quite a lot about the many problems associated with finding cures for the many different types of cancer was unimportant. All that mattered was I was too “close minded” to be open to her evidence-free conspiracy theory.

My friend was sure she knew what she knew even if she knew nothing about cellular biology or biochemistry, nor knew who this scientist was, nor anything about how actual research is performed. She was too committed to her view of reality to tolerate dissent. She then proceeded to tell me about the “hundreds of times” large automobile manufacturing companies have bought up revolutionary new technologies that could…