Conspiracy theorist

I was told recently that I was a "conspiracy theorist". I was surprised, as this was delivered as an accusation while I took those words as a compliment and agree with them.

  • Theorist: To define this term I need the comfort of a superior authority in definition: the Oxford dictionary. 
  • Theorist: "A person concerned with the theoretical aspects of a subject" 
  • Theory: "A set of principles on which the practice of an activity is based.

I would certainly not deny that I'm a theorist, I embrace it. I do theories as a permanent activity: how to price a FRA? How to transition benchmarks? How to hit a draw? How to hole puts? (Those two last items, with limited success) When to buy biscuits? As a mathematician, an (honorary) academic, quant, how can any one think that I'm not a theorist or I would deny it? I cannot imagine a theory that would explain such thinking!

Also I'm principled based (not rules based) and a practitioner, so a set of principles on which the practice is based is certainly spot on.

A theory is not something unique, one can have different theories at the same time. Theory goes with free speech, theory need to be validated, for that you need as many opinion and data as possible. Even a wrong theory can help you to understand why your theory is better (or worst) than you initially imagined. And certainly I'm in favor of free speech, even for false theory, and there must be an equal free speech to debunk the false theory; no "safe space" is allowed for theories.

  • Conspiracy: A secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful.

Of course some people do unlawful or harmful things, that is why we have police and courts. If you pay taxes and fund police and justice it is because you believe that some people (not you of course) may at some stage do "unlawful or harmful things". The people that do so, usually do it in secret and often plan it in advance. We are left only with the group issue. Human beings are social animals, so they often "do things" in group.

Lobby groups, trade unions, trade associations, political parties are example of groups that could be associated to those secret plans. The groups are not illegal in their existence, but their raison d'être is to push for things that are positive for themselves, often by being negative or harmful to others in a relative way. Trade unions want better wages for workers and thus lower revenues for employers; lobby groups want less constraints on their group, reporting the impacts on others; trade associations push forward advantages for their members, at the cost of their clients or providers.

Of course the world is full of conspiracies, small and large. Yes I try to understand them and create theories about them. Yes, I believe that some of those theories are true in part.

If you want to insult me, don't call me a "conspiracy theorist", in theory, I can’t see any way this could be an insult. The worst insult would probably be "useful idiot". I certainly don't want to be useful in this context!

With those explanations, you understand that I agree that

Open discourse is the central pillar of a free society

As a logical consequence of this I agree in (very) large part with

The Westminster Declaration

Note that the web-site of the declaration is (at the time of writing) blocked by some network providers. A technical issue or the censorship of anti-censorship?

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