Conspiracies of Cognition, Conspiracies Of Emotion

Distinguishes two kinds of conspiracy theory. 'Conspiracies of cognition' (JFK bullet angles, Pyramid/speed-of-light) start from a compact, quantifiable anomaly and a weird evidence-processing style; the conspiracy is a secondary hack to dismiss the vague holistic evidence against, and believers aren't especially angry. 'Conspiracies of emotion' (Elders of Zion, the Adrenochrome cabal) invert this -- believers are invested in and angry about the conspiracy itself. Scott's sharp claim: there the 'evidence' being explained is the believer's own emotions. People hate the elite more than they can articulate; a literal child-eating cabal would be a single, objectively-bad fact that compresses and justifies their inchoate antipathy. Uses his own Russiagate credulity and 'bitch eating crackers' / emotions-as-priors to make it first-person.

Quality 74 · Strong. Strong, upper end. An original and genuinely illuminating taxonomy (cognition vs emotion), plus the non-obvious 'the explanandum is your own emotions' insight and the legibility/compression point. Held just below Excellent for compactness -- a sharp single move rather than a full treatment.

Claude’s paradigm shift 56 · Moderate. Notable. The two-types split and the emotions-as-the-thing-being-explained framing are fresh, non-obvious contributions; emotions-as-priors builds on his prior work.

Real-world impact 2 · Minor. Minor. Influential within the rationalist/psychology discourse on conspiracism; no material reach. Within-niche.