My theory: kooky people have always existed, but kookiness was hard to spread, because kookiness is not conducive to reality-based survival.

But engagement-based media changed that. Kookiness became just another “personal interest” that the algorithm fed you more of. The path from well-adjusted person to full-time kook now had a digital Sherpa: the algorithm. Because the journey happened on a screen, the social cost of descending into kookdom was cheap; you could turn into a kook without anyone knowing. Along the way, con artists discovered that people on their way to kookdom were good marks. They created media specifically to be recommended to pilgrims on the road to kookdom. The more media they generated, the better paved the road became.

And finally, we have the political weaponization of kookiness. The GOP made being a kook part of the party’s identity. Not only was kookiness acceptable, it was a membership requirement. So yeah, it’s no surprise there are more kooks today than there were in the 80s.

Having said that, kookiness is still not conducive to reality-based survival, and having a mass of people being kooks reduces society’s chances of survival. GOP kooks (redundant, I know) in 2025 are getting away with their kooky beliefs because so much of the system remains based in reality, and works to protect them from the consequences of their kookiness. But the system can only withstand so much volume of kookiness in society before its safety margins are eroded.

Reality catches up to everyone, even kooks. Sooner or later, kooks will suffer the natural consequences of their decisions. Some of them will change their minds and abandon the kooky life, but many others will go even kookier by inventing rationales to explain away their suffering.

• #opinion