Speaking of conspiracies.... I have a sad personal story. Many years ago a good friend of mine became paranoid. It really was sad - to watch an intelligent, charming, warm person become immersed in conspiracies and worry all the time about various intelligence agencies - when, too obviously, there weren't any to be seen. Eventually, his disease cost him his life.
He was a professor of philosophy, and the contents of his disease were strongly related to philosophy and religion. I couldn't help noticing that, in a certain sense, he was deriving a "secondary gain" as the result of his illness. Before, he was teaching in 2nd rate colleges and was writing articles which no one read. After he got sick, suddenly he could claim God-like powers of vision and wisdom. It was almost as if he had a vested interest in remaining ill. Inner workings of the world have become "clear" to him. He became "enlightened".
I do not think, not by any means, that the vast majority of people who believe in a multitude of various political, economic and other conspiracies are paranoid -- at most, some may have, maybe, certain traits in their personalities which may be conducive to such patterns of thinking.
I still have this in my SI profile -- "Don't believe everything you think!" (-bg).
Are there real conspiracies out there? Probably not as many as many of us would expect. Can you always predict how your wife or your friends will react to certain things? Probably not. To put together a plot involving many strangers - who will be expected to take the secret to their graves - is... very tough.
I think Bernanke is a buffoon but like all academic wonks believes his formulas
This, under Occam's razor, is sufficient to explain many of our society's present and future problems. Arrogance, hubris, excessive reliance on limited understanding and silly models -- those are dangerous qualities, especially when they become so prevalent among nation's leaders. |
