this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2026
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[–] Peanutbjelly@sopuli.xyz 10 points 1 day ago

Script theory does a good job of showing how being able to follow certain social scripts does not suggest that the person does not hold a strong delusion that is unchallenged by those scripts.

You can believe you can fly while not needing to contest that until it becomes an active choice you are forced to make. Some might back off from the belief when put to contest, because they are okay believing whatever feels good despite the dissonance they feel. Some might take action believing they can fly. Both exist comfortable in a shared social group of online "flying truthers."

People are easily deluded, and usually those delusions cover vaguely bounded and varying social groups, where a single person and an LLM can confirm the person into a noticeable delusion that hasn't been socialized into the surrounding social scripts.

This is also how you can get a genuinely smart person in math or something, which also holds confident deluded beliefs on some other context.

On the whole: Eco-niche specialization, misplaced confidence, and social affirmation, generally can lead to this.