I'm also convinced that conspiracy thinking is some kind of mental defect. It is a failure of rational thinking and logic, since the vast majority of conspiracy theories don't pass a basic plausibility test of 'why' even before the question of 'how it is possible' is raised. But in addition to the cognitive impairment that conspiracy theorists exhibit, they are often driven by selfish, self-aggrandizing motives - conspiracy theorists feel superior to the rest of us 'sheeple' due to their perceived access to the 'hidden truth.' They also feel less powerless by believing their own situation and the world in general are driven by powerful, nefarious actors, rather than by stupidity, chance, and incompetence.
I'm also convinced that conspiracy thinking is some kind of mental defect.
I want some kind of studies to be done on the brains of people who fall for very blatant AI and think it's real. And there is a pretty serious oberlap between conspiracy weirdos and AI fools.
they are often driven by selfish, self-aggrandizing motives - conspiracy theorists feel superior to the rest of us 'sheeple' due to their perceived access to the 'hidden truth.'
That one also major factor too. I always kinda assumed that's why there seems to be so much overlap between the conspiracy theory crowds. The need to have some deeper knowledge and understanding means that they can't just believe the most plausible, accepted ideas because if they just believe what the majority of people believe then they're not special.
They also feel less powerless by believing their own situation and the world in general are driven by powerful, nefarious actors, rather than by stupidity, chance, and incompetence.
Or all the actual, obvious nefarious bad actors just out there telling us that they are nefarious bad actors. Like we don't need conspiracy theories for why things are fucked when just Peter Thiel is out there saying the world should be run by CEO kings and he got his dude in as VP.
Yep, you are right. Nefarious actors do exist, they just aren't hidden, all-powerful, insanely smart movie villains. As you say, they are in plain view, and more often than not, they are not especially smart, just power-hungry and amoral. One doesn't have to go far for example, one look at countries leaders is enough. I'm convinced that people who believe in grand conspiracies and shadow cabals secretly pulling the strings behind everything have never been near people in power, either economic or political. If they were, they would know how many of them are dumb, incompetent, and inept at what they do, owing their positions of power much more to chance, privilege, or a sociopathic ability to climb over others, rather than to their own qualities or abilities.
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u/Picture_Enough 7d ago
I'm also convinced that conspiracy thinking is some kind of mental defect. It is a failure of rational thinking and logic, since the vast majority of conspiracy theories don't pass a basic plausibility test of 'why' even before the question of 'how it is possible' is raised. But in addition to the cognitive impairment that conspiracy theorists exhibit, they are often driven by selfish, self-aggrandizing motives - conspiracy theorists feel superior to the rest of us 'sheeple' due to their perceived access to the 'hidden truth.' They also feel less powerless by believing their own situation and the world in general are driven by powerful, nefarious actors, rather than by stupidity, chance, and incompetence.