Sunday, February 13, 2005

conspiracy theories - some go too far, some not far enough

just a few words on paranoia -

a paranoid's worldview sees the hand of an enemy in events, which he perceives as intentional acts designed to harm him

obviously, it is possible to be too paranoid, and to overinterpret the coherence of historical events and see connections that aren't really there - and to blame many events on a vast conspiracy - the jews, the illuminati, the communists, the jesuits , the "greys"

on the other hand, it is also possible to miss the coherence that is really there - to be oblivious or to have "false consciousness"

it's not easy to know what's really going on, and everyone applies a bayesian approach - we evaluate the probability of new information being accurate based on what we already believe

i try to stick to the middle way - to be appropriately suspicious - the goldilocks principle - neither too much nor too little

as i'm sure most of us here recognize, there really ARE conspiracies - a relatively large number, some working together, some at cross-purposes

at "all spin zone"recently there's been a discussion of the "paranoid shift" - a change of weltanschauung when a person begins to believe that some of the events of recent history really are connected in ways that have been concealed (recall that bush's first choice to chair the 9/11 commission - a commission he hadn't wanted in the first place - was henry kissinger)

woody allen said we stand at a crossroads - one way leads to despair, the other to total destruction - let us hope we make the right choice

5 Comments:

Blogger Cervantes said...

Anybody who isn't paranoid these days has to be nuts.

January 31, 2006 at 11:34 AM  
Blogger Paul Dirks said...

Is your blog a spam-magnet or am I just being paranoid???!!!

January 30, 2007 at 10:17 AM  
Blogger MR.Bill said...

'....Arthur Dent exclaims that this explains the feeling he has always had, that there's something going on in the universe that nobody would tell him about. "Oh no" says Zaphod Beeblebrox, "That's just perfectly normal paranoia. Everyone in the universe has that".'

June 13, 2007 at 12:57 PM  
Blogger Larry said...

I can get free porn AND a college degree? This is the best blog ever! Also, thank for your thoughts. Your original post was helpful.

July 27, 2007 at 9:40 PM  
Blogger mistah charley, ph.d. said...

Larry - I'm glad you found my original post helpful, but in all modesty I cannot take credit for the educational and recreational opportunities offered here by commenters


there are many roads to free porn, and the "desired college degrees" may or may not be what you really desire - caveat emptor [let the buyer beware]

as neil young has said, "keep on rockin' in the free world" -


or, as the optimistically named band Utopia put it once -

"politicians and dictators
and the guys with the dough
think they run the world
but they really don't know

cause out here on the street
we got it under control
from Berlin to San Francisco
from New York to Tokyo -

One World
It's Our World"

well, sort of - yes and no - but continue with your own plans, and if they are in accordance with destiny, you will reap a rich reward

August 23, 2007 at 7:55 AM  

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