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The thought processes in the conspiracy theory community are certainly often divorced from reality, but they tend to be intricately formed and internally consis

The thought processes in the conspiracy theory community are certainly often divorced from reality, but they tend to be intricately formed and internally consistent. Alternatively, the through processes in somebody with schizophrenia tend to be disastrously non-consistent and almost meaningless (think the ramblings of Charles Manson). Couple that with the usually strong negative symptoms of schizophrenia, such as social withdrawal, depression, and lack of general motivation, and I don't see a huge overlap between the conspiracy theory community and people with schizophrenia.

stavros 5y ago
Good point, thanks.
kragen 5y ago
To be fair, the thought processes outside the conspiracy theory community are also insanely divorced from reality. People visualize the Ukrainian war as Putin and Velenskyy gearing up for a boxing match as they stand over their countries like giants, they believe Ukraine and Russia and money are things that objectively exist in the real world rather than in people's minds, they believe the US has a good health care system, and they think of the universe as consisting mostly of Earth, Earth as consisting mostly of places where people live, and people as being mostly like the people who live near them. I just had to tell someone here on HN that actually no the US doesn't tax Argentine moneychangers in Argentina. Also, while Manson was a motherfucker with self-defeating crazy plans, he was a sufficiently convincing motherfucker who convinced a dozen or so people to dedicate their lives to his self-defeating crazy plans. They had significant internal consistency; they were just based on objectively false beliefs about the world. (He did get worse over time, though.) But all beliefs about the world are objectively false; it's just a matter of degree and consequences.

stavros 5y ago

Good point, thanks.

kragen 5y ago

To be fair, the thought processes outside the conspiracy theory community are also insanely divorced from reality. People visualize the Ukrainian war as Putin and Velenskyy gearing up for a boxing match as they stand over their countries like giants, they believe Ukraine and Russia and money are things that objectively exist in the real world rather than in people's minds, they believe the US has a good health care system, and they think of the universe as consisting mostly of Earth, Earth as consisting mostly of places where people live, and people as being mostly like the people who live near them. I just had to tell someone here on HN that actually no the US doesn't tax Argentine moneychangers in Argentina. Also, while Manson was a motherfucker with self-defeating crazy plans, he was a sufficiently convincing motherfucker who convinced a dozen or so people to dedicate their lives to his self-defeating crazy plans. They had significant internal consistency; they were just based on objectively false beliefs about the world. (He did get worse over time, though.) But all beliefs about the world are objectively false; it's just a matter of degree and consequences.