Thanks for taking the time to offer a thorough reply. No worries on the delay, we are both busy and have much more important things going on.

Glad you read the article. I believe I see where you are coming from. If you have any particular references to Chomsky making the point that institutional analysis is antithetical to conspiracy, I would love to read it. I am a big fan of his work. However that seems like an unrealistic generalization. Some analysts in some institutions will think that conspiracy is BS, others will see it as something worth studying and talking about.

The notion that you assert, that the institutional forces shaping our world are unintentional and unguided seems off base to me for several reasons. I'll start with an overly extreme interpretation of your stance. "Conspiracies do not exist" this statement is as logically incoherent as saying that God doesn't exist. Now we can argue about the nature of God; does it exist in any tangible way outside of the human construct? Maybe. But regardless it clearly has profound influence on the world in innumerable ways.

The same can be said of conspiracies and conspiracy theories. Do they exist outside of the imaginations and communications of paranoid humans across the planet, or are there really powerful human forces shaping the world in subtle ways? All a conspiracy is, is a few individuals getting together and planning to do something. It happens all the time. Ben Nelson and Kosslyn conspire to change the face of higher education. I'm sure you conspire with different individuals in your life to further your agenda however benevolent or malevolent that may be.

But that isn't really what we are talking about. We are talking about the top of the pyramid, world shaping, hidden hand sort of conspiracies. The ones that are highly controversial and divisive. Here's a short clip from a JFK speech to illustrate:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeYgLLahHv8 (unfortunately the POTUS status doesn't have the regard it used to, but I still rate his credibility as high)
We can go into the details of how and why the sort of conspiracies he references in this clip exist - much of that is rather obvious: power, money, control, and it is also somewhat fascinating and for some useful to learn about and understand. Maybe that is not at all the case for you, although you do seem to be strongly opinionated on the matter, which I appreciate. I see it as naive to ignore the reality of this though and much of your reply seems like a cop out. Yes it is 'just' gears turning, but we can look at those gears, we can see how big they are, how fast they are turning, how many teeth they have and what else they are connected to. We can look at the shaft at the core and see what is driving that torque from the center...

I also agree with you on the note of people using these sorts of ideas to validate all of their psuedo-logical crap. Personally I find that a fascinating field of study because the entirety of human knowledge is such a fickle spec in the grand scheme of things. It is interesting for me to see where schools of thought branch off from one another, the methods and axioms that people base their notions of truth and reality on, and the ideas that are obvious and fundamental to some but impossible and ignored by others. For me it's more about seeing and bridging the gaps then finding the right path. The varied extremes have their dangers and issues without a doubt, but there is a lot to learn on all sides, and there is always reason as to why folks come to the conclusions that they do.

It is very different to say the holocaust is a lie than to ask if everything I was taught about the holocaust was true. Not the same discussion to ask if HIV is real as to ask how the AIDS epidemic came to be, how much was purely biological vs culturally and socially induced placebo. How accurate the tests were, where corruption came into play, etc... It's entirely different to state that vaccine saves lives and that all vaccines are safe and effective. If we talk passed each other and not with each other, then we will never get anywhere with these conversations. No one will benefit, people will feel hurt, and we create unnecessary divides.

These are heavy conversations, and I have no expectation for you to have any desire to participate in those conversations with me. I don't pretend to have all the answers, but I have collected a variety of perspectives, and I do see these as important conversations to have.  As far as I can tell, you're doing fine in this life Josh, and I won't pretend to be in touch with any needs of yours.

You mentioned something in your Minerva talk last year that struck me as particularly salient. Something about real friends and knowing that they will be there for you when it counts. I hope you continue to find that in this life and invest your energy where it counts. I don't really know you and I doubt you know me, but if you'd like to, my door is always open and I am always up for a good conversation.