[throwaway_82467]

I'm convinced this is actually a symptom of using psychedelics.

Ironically, using quite a lot of anec-data, there definitely seems to be a correlation between use of psychedelics among myself/peers and how "suggestible" people are. I've seen a lot of folks go really deep in conspiracy theories (regardless of the political/social positioning), strong religious beliefs, or similar such lines-of-thought that require a "leap of faith" or reasoning-by-analogy. Overall I believe that something about taking them puts you into a state of mind that is more "open", and therefore, more "gullible" to believe that you are latching onto some profound truth or significant idea.

[bubblyworld]

I've never been sure which way the causation goes (if any), but I've known three people so far who had psychotic breaks after an intense mushroom trip. Similar to what you wrote - a sudden obsession with conspiracy theories and/or intense religious persuasions. Something they all had in common was being very confident and self-assured to begin with, which makes me wonder if it's particularly risky for those kinds of people? They all recovered, fortunately.

[ajb]

Your theory reminds me of this (long) article: https://slatestarcodex.com/2016/09/12/its-bayes-all-the-way-...