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9 of the best technology conspiracy theories
From government surveillance programs to microchips in vaccines, technology-centric conspiracy theories have exploded in the digital age, adding to some of the best conspiracy theories already in existence. While most probably seem laughable to the technically literate, some of these theories have spread like wildfire and had significant real-world impacts. And although most are complete fabrications, some do contain a kernel of truth — and others have turned out to be eerily accurate. Here's a rundown of some of the most pernicious technology conspiracy theories.The Large Hadron Collider is opening a portal to hellVerdict: Not TrueThe Large Hadron Collider, operated by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland, has been an obsession with conspiracy theorists almost since its opening in 2008. The organization has even seen it necessary to have a dedicated page on its website responding to some of the more outlandish claims.One of the most persistent fears is that the machine could create a black hole that would consume Earth or open portals to other dimensions. At their most hysterical, these theories have suggested that researchers are deliberately opening the gates of Hell to communicate with demonic entities.Unsurprisingly, physicists swiftly debunked these ideas. The collider uses magnetic fields to accelerate protons to extremely high speeds before smashing them together to create smaller particles. The goal is to discover new elementary particles that could help test theories about how the Universe works.Creating even a microscopic black hole or wormhole would require an accelerator the size of the whole universe, say researchers. It would also decay in a fraction of a second thanks to Hawking radiation, which causes black holes to lose mass and eventually evaporate. Even if such a black hole was stable, which current physics suggests is impossible, it would take three trillion years to consume just one kilogram of matter.Tracking microchips in COVID-19 vaccinesVerdict: Not TrueWhen the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, governments took unprecedented steps to control its spread, including lockdowns and vaccine mandates. That proved fertile breeding ground for novel conspiracy theories, including the bizarre claim that authorities were sneaking microchips into vaccines so they could track people.The theory’s origins can be traced to March 2020, when Bill Gates participated in a Reddit discussion about digital health passports. A Swedish website dedicated to biohacking misinterpreted his comments and published an article saying the billionaire wanted to use microchip implants to fight the pandemic.Via a paranoid game of Telephone, this slowly morphed into the idea that the government was using the vaccine to implant tracking chips in citizens. Needless to say, the theory is nonsense. There is no evidence that any of the billions of people vaccinated against COVID-19 have been implanted with tracking hardware.But by January 2021, one in 10 American adults believed the theory. More worryingly, a poll found that one in four Americans said they were uncertain whether vaccines contained microchips. The conspiracy was built on years of anti-vaccine disinformation, and further fuelled the vaccine hesitancy that made it so hard to control the pandemic.5G networks spread COVID-19One of the prominent conspiracy theories during the COVID-19 pandemic was that 5G networks spread the virus. (Image credit: AerialPerspective Images/Getty Images)Verdict: Not TrueAnother COVID-19 related conspiracy theory that gained significant traction claimed that the disease was being spread by newly installed 5G cellular networks. The theory became so widespread that cell towers were set on fire in several countries, and social media platforms were forced to actively combat its spread.The idea is firmly contradicted by the overwhelming evidence that COVID-19 is caused by a contagious virus. And crucially, the virus spread rapidly in areas with no 5G coverage whatsoever. Nonetheless, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency felt compelled to issue a statement clarifying that 5G technology does not cause coronavirus, while U.K. government officials dismissed it as a "crackpot conspiracy.”The fears likely built on top of existing concerns about the health impacts of radiation from cellphone towers. But there is no credible evidence that existing technology causes health problems, and 5G should raise even fewer concerns. The radio frequency waves used by these networks are forms of non-ionizing radiation, meaning they lack the energy to damage DNA or cells in ways that could cause disease. High-band 5G uses millimetre wave frequencies that cannot even penetrate human skin.The dead internet theoryVerdict: Partially TrueThe dead internet theory proposes that the web is now dominated by bots interacting with each other with minimal human involvement. The idea has been around for several years, but has been further fuelled by the recent rise of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots and agents.The conspiracy first surfaced in 2021 on the Agora Road's Macintosh Cafe forum, in a thread titled "Dead Internet Theory: Most Of The Internet Is Fake." The idea is that automated systems are being used to craft content designed to draw engagement and generate ad revenue. But the theory suggests that those interacting with this content are also bots.While the extent to which this is true is debatable, there is an element of truth to the theory. Studies show bot traffic was responsible for 51% of all internet activity in 2024 — the first time bots surpassed humans. And since ChatGPT's launch, AI-generated content has exploded, with another study finding that 13.1% of websites now host such material.This is leading to fears that the internet is being rapidly flooded with low-quality "AI slop" that could degrade its usefulness over time. Given that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently gave credence to the theory, this might be one to start taking more seriously. The evolution of this idea, fueled by AI, might permanently change how we use the internet in the years to come. Governments can control the weatherVerdict: Partially TrueFollowing the highly destructive hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024, rumours swirled that they were the result of government weather control programs. One of the most prominent boosters of the theory was U.S. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who tweeted “Yes they can control the weather” to her 1.2 million followers shortly before Hurricane Milton hit.While these specific claims are patently false, like many good conspiracy theories, they contain a kernel of truth. The U.S. government had been interested in weather control as far back as 1891 and had a serious "weather weapons" program in the form of Operation Popeye between 1967 and 1972 during the Vietnam War. Such practices were banned by the Environmental Modification Treaty in 1977.Basic forms of weather modification also exist today, in particular cloud seeding. This involves dispersing materials like silver iodide into clouds, which can marginally enhance rainfall. Countries like China and Saudi Arabia use the approach to assist in agriculture. China harnessed this technology to ensure clear skies for the 2008 Olympics.Proposals to fight climate change via solar geoengineering have also further fuelled conspiracy theories. This would involve spreading tiny particles in the upper atmosphere to reflect sunlight. But these approaches are a long way from the kind of weaponized weather control conspiracists dream of.Phones eavesdrop on you for ad targetingCould smartphones be spying on us? (Image credit: tim scott via Getty Images)Verdict: Partially TrueMany people have had the eerie experience of seeing ads for products appearing on their phone shortly after discussing them offline. This has led to a persistent belief that smartphones secretly listen to our conversations for advertising purposes.The rumour has been around for decades, but Instagram head Adam Mosseri recently felt compelled to address it directly, stating the company doesn't use microphones this way and calling it a "gross violation of privacy." Multiple studies have also found no evidence of covert audio recording, and there are several reasons why it would be impractical. For a start, constant audio recording would rapidly drain phone batteries and trigger visible indicators on phone displays. More importantly, unauthorized recording would create enormous legal liability for those who engaged in it.But there is something potentially more unsettling behind the phenomenon. Online platforms, advertisers and data brokers are constantly collecting, curating and reselling every tiny piece of information they can glean from our online and offline behaviour. This allows them to develop incredibly accurate profiles of people to provide spookily appropriate, and timely, product suggestions.Planned obsolescenceVerdict: Partially TrueFrom clothes to consumer electronics and even cars, people increasingly complain that products don’t last as long as they used to. The theory of Planned Obsolescence suggests that this is no accident, and companies deliberately design products with short lifespans to force repeat purchases.The idea has circulated for a long time and has some truth to it. There is historical evidence that companies have pursued obsolescence as a strategy — in the 1920s, for instance, major light bulb manufacturers came together to form the "Phoebus cartel," which colluded to reduce bulb lifespans to just 1,000 hours. General Motors also pioneered annual model changes to entice customers to buy newer vehicles, creating a template that other industries copied. Technology vendors are particularly guilty — think smartphones with batteries that degrade in just a few years, or no longer support software updates.But the practice isn't necessarily aimed at tricking us into buying more than we need. Rapid product turnover makes things cheaper to manufacture and with technology in particular, consumers prefer paying less upfront for devices they'll replace soon to access new features. Durability comes at a price too, so customers are often happy to have cheaper products that may not last as long — for instance, clothes that children will grow out of.Government-sponsored mind control programsVerdict: TrueThere is a whole menagerie of conspiracy theories speculating that the government uses technology and drugs for mind control. One prominent recent example is the claim that the U.S. military’s High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) is secretly using radio waves to manipulate people’s thoughts.While that specific claim has been firmly debunked, the idea that the U.S. government is attempting to control people’s minds is not so outlandish. In 1953, CIA director Allen Dulles launched a top secret program called MKUltra aimed at developing exactly those kinds of capabilities. The agency covertly contracted out 162 projects to various universities, research foundations and institutions to study how psychoactive drugs, hypnosis, electroshock therapy, sensory deprivation and various forms of torture could be used to manipulate people’s mental states.Experiments were carried out on both volunteers and unwitting subjects, including prisoners, sex workers, soldiers and children. By the mid-1960s, the project’s backers concluded that while it was easy to dismantle a human mind, subsequently seizing control of it was beyond them, and they wound down research in 1964.Investigative reporting by the New York Times uncovered the project in 1974 and led to a series of congressional hearings. But the bulk of documents related to the project had been destroyed the year before, meaning the true extent of the program remains a mystery.Widespread digital surveillanceVerdict: TrueParanoia around the government’s ability to listen in on our phone calls or online communications is a defining feature of many conspiracy theories. But in June 2013, former CIA contractor Edward Snowden leaked a treasure trove of classified documents to journalists that validated many of these fears.Related storiesWhat is the dead internet theory?5G is not linked to the coronavirus pandemic in any way. Here's the science.Why do people believe in conspiracy theories?The revelations uncovered a mass surveillance network operated by U.S. intelligence agencies and their foreign allies to collect phone records and monitor internet activity across the globe. Most prominently, it uncovered the PRISM program, operated by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), which used secret court orders to demand internet communication data from technology companies. The U.K.'s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) was also revealed to be tapping into 200 fiber-optic cables around the world, allowing it to monitor up to 600 million communications daily.The reports lead to widespread outrage because the surveillance targeted not only suspected terrorists and criminals but also ordinary citizens, journalists, corporations and 35 foreign leaders – most notably the phone of the German chancellor at the time, Angela Merkel. But despite an initial public outcry, Congress renewed many of these surveillance programs in 2018 with little debate, suggesting that widespread government surveillance remains alive and well.Test your knowledge of unfounded beliefs, from flat Earth to lizard people with our conspiracy theory quiz!
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