By definition, conspiracy theorists don't believe its a theory. It's a self-evident reality to them. Ask any of the conspiracy theorists who frequent this forum and they will honestly and sincerely tell you they don't believe in any. Maybe we ALL subscribe to some conspiracy theory.

I'm not being flippant here, this goes to the root of the human condition, and has innumerable implications in, social relations, politics and philosophy. What can we really know? How do we know what we know? How do we know about how we know? How can perfectly rational, even brilliant, people have such ridiculous opinons on some subjects, and what guarantee do we have that we aren't just as screwy as they are and have no way of ever realizing it?

Even people we can all agree are pathologically mistaken, even clinically insane, are often intelligent and capable enough to hide their condition from others, and convincingly pretend they are sane. A man who hears voices can realize that he dare not let anyone else know that because he knows that is commonly considered evidence of insanity.

When groups share this delusion it is particularly baffling. When Group A
conflicts with Group B, they naturally think all their group members are right (good) and all the other group members are wrong (evil). Meanwhile, members of Group C, who are not involved in the dispute, just roll their eyes and shake their heads and wonder how people can be so stupid.

When we have a personal financial stake or other interest in an outcome or position, we naturally tend to see relationships and confirmation in facts which support our opinion, and dismiss those which do not. We easily see when others do this, we often realize it has happened to us (safely in the past!) but we go ahead and make the error every time.

Perhaps consciousness is an epiphenomenon after all. We are stimulus-response machines not rational creatures, we just have convinced ourselves we are. What we think of as thought is like a computer program, incapable of dealing with unanticipated conditions. We just experience the illusion of a mind absorbing information and responding with actions dictated by cool analysis. Watching the behavior of others, that this not true is often painfully obvious, but we never detect it in ourselves.

I think I think, therefore, I think I am.