Pronoia (psychology)

Pronoia (psychology)

Pronoia is a neologism that is defined as the opposite state of mind as paranoia: having the sense that there is a conspiracy that exists to help the person. It is also used to describe a philosophy that the world is set up to secretly benefit people.

The writer and Electronic Frontier Foundation co-founder John Perry Barlow defined pronoia as "the suspicion the Universe is a conspiracy on your behalf". The academic journal "Social Problems" published an article entitled "Pronoia" by Fred H. Goldner in 1982 (vol 30, pp. 82–91). It received a good deal of publicity at the time including references to it in Psychology Today, The New York Daily News, The Wall Street Journal etc. It described a phenomenon that was the opposite from paranoia and provided numerous examples of specific persons who displayed such characteristics.

It was subsequently picked up in England and written about as described below. Wired Magazine published an article in issue 2.05 (May 1994) titled "Zippie!". The cover of the magazine featured a psychedelic image of a smiling young man with wild hair, a funny hat, and crazy eyeglasses. Written by Jules Marshall, the article announced an organized cultural response to Thatcherism in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The opening paragraphs of the article describe "a new and contagious cultural virus" and refer to pronoia as "the sneaking feeling one has that others are conspiring behind your back to help you".

The article announces a cultural, musical, invasion of the United States to rival the British Invasion of 1964-1966, culminating with a "Woodstock Revival" to be staged at the Grand Canyon in August 1994. The spokesperson for the Zippies, Fraser Clark, dubs this movement the "Zippy Pronoia Tour".

A New York Times article published August 7, 1994, titled "For Peace and Love, Try Raving Till Dawn" also described the Zippies and their efforts. It contained two references to pronoia.