> Mr. Adams says he's a fan of conspiracy theories, but I don't think so, since he suggests conspiracy theories are typically "any wild story" engineered to sou

> Mr. Adams says he's a fan of conspiracy theories, but I don't think so, since he suggests conspiracy theories are typically "any wild story" engineered to sound feasible. But how are those wild stories engineered? By collecting all facts and half-truths that seem to fit. (... and often by inventing additional "facts" as appropriate.) So of course those stories are partly based on observations. > This definition goes against the whole reason for including the word "theory" which is supposed to suggest underlying assumptions are at least in part based on observations. For the reasons above, I think that your definition is almost equivalent to the definition of Mr. Adams.