Conspiracy Theorists Mirror Founders

Will O'Brien believes conspiracy theorists share many traits with successful founders, and that this contrarian mindset is valuable and underrated in society.

• Conspiracy theorists have founder-like qualities:

  • They believe in things others tell them aren't real
  • They can see patterns that others can't see
  • They go down rabbit holes with determination
  • They possess a contrarian spirit that's "very very good"

• The value of thinking differently:

  • "The default is doing things that other people do"
  • It's important to cultivate an ability to see the world differently
  • There's a double standard in how we label this thinking - "contrarian" is positive while "conspiracy theorist" is negative

• Taking weird ideas seriously:

  • "If we just had heard the [weird] idea and just like rubbished it... I don't know what the hell I'd be doing today"
  • "You need to take something weird and go with it"
  • Not blindly believing everything, but refusing to dismiss unusual claims outright

• Historical perspective:

  • "History shows us that breakthroughs often happen at the edges where people are curious enough or foolhardy enough to investigate the unexplainable"
  • Examples include Christian mystics who believe in miraculous healings and physics experiments that challenge our understanding of space-time

• Conspiracy theories as entertainment:

  • They're "kinda like horoscopes for dudes"
  • They're "just like a fun thing" to spend time reading about

• Specific conspiracy example - telepathy in nonverbal autism:

  • Recommends the "Telepathy Tapes" podcast about children with nonverbal autism who appear to have telepathic abilities
  • Describes tests where children can reproduce random numbers their parents see in another room