Words, words, mere words ...

"Only the paranoid survive." ~ Andy Grove

The complete quote from Andy, who was a huge influencer of the semiconductor industry and worked for many years at Intel: 

Andy escaped the Nazi occupation of Hungary by taking on a false identity, so I imagine this man knew something about paranoia. Also, as a business-trained person, I have too-long occupied spaces where words like "success" and "complacency" were dogmatized. Success is/was the ultimate goal, and complacency (meaning smugness, self-satisfaction, a sense of security Thesaurus) lead to inertia, trust ... things that did not lead to success. Certainly the opposite of trust is skepticism, and taken to an extreme, that skepticism might look like or even become paranoia.

The word "paranoid" is a slur in modern times; perhaps it always was. It conveys a tendency toward delusion or disorder. Per the dictionary, the current definition says it all in its negative connotations: 

par·a·noi·a (noun)

1. a mental condition characterized by delusions of persecution, unwarranted jealousy, or exaggerated self-importance, typically elaborated into an organized system. It may be an aspect of chronic personality disorder, of drug abuse, or of a serious condition such as schizophrenia in which the person loses touch with reality.

    

   Similar: persecution complex, delusions, obsession, megalomania, monomania, psychosis

   Example:

   • suspicion and mistrust of people or their actions without evidence or justification.

     "the global paranoia about hackers and viruses"

Origin

 

It's right there in the Greek roots of the word: "irregular mind." So -- it's not complimentary to say someone is paranoid. I know paranoia up close, as it afflicts members of my family to various degrees, in unflattering and disabling ways. No bueno. I definitely do not appreciate being labeled as paranoid. 

 

However, when looking deeper into paranoid behavior, it might be evolutionarily preferred. (Paranoia May Protect Us) An excerpt:

Hopefully the review can show that paranoia is not just a disordered mental state but is part of a normal and evolved human psychology that responds to the specific environment we find ourselves in.

In the dictionary example pictured above, it's worth pointing out that being "paranoid" about something does not make it erroneous to worry about it. There are hackers and viruses, and plenty of people fall prey to such every day. It is only through experience and education and using weapons/tools that a person avoids the likelihood of having an identity stolen or a bank account cleaned out. So perhaps a tendency toward paranoia is beneficial, as long as it doesn't become virulent (ha ... pun intended).

 

Also of note, the opposite of paranoia is "pronoia," which is feeling that the world around someone conspires to do them good (as opposed to someone experiencing paranoia feels that persons or entities are conspiring against them). One of these things seems more likely than the other. It ain't the pronoia -- that seems the more supreme delusion. 

 

But -- both are obvious extremes; common reality surely exists somewhere midpoint. Both have a rather extreme unlikelihood of occurrence -- but only one might help survival rates. Perhaps pronoia compels people to be blind to threats, to willfully ignore expert guidance on how to be better protected. Perhaps pronoia lead "Grizzy Man" to live and ultimately die among grizzly bears he thought had befriended him (Grizzly Man Dies).

 

Could pronoia be the real root of many "privileged mindsets" of late? If one has never been robbed, or been passed over for promotion, or sexually assaulted, or any of the negative experiences that lead to holding a protectionist, defensive posture by so many victims ... why would that person expect any different? They expect to remain safe, unassaulted ... complacent. That's a real outcome of privilege: never having to experience or endure a lack -- of security, of power, of hunger, of safety. Bully for them. That's not me. 

 

Given the way the world (my world) works (and has worked previously), with self-absorption and very strong genetic tendencies to prefer self and one's own tribe over strangers ... to use others to one's own ends, gains, and means ... I find pronoia is more disadvantaged, more Pollyanna (shudder, that word is an ultimate slur in my mind, and it is worth mentioning that it, too, is a psychological syndrome, from a book of the same title, about “excessively or blindly optimistic” views), and more character-assassinating. So I choose caution over disregard. I choose prevention over cure. I choose to be vulnerable only to those who have earned the privilege of having the power to wound, rob, or damage me. Viewed askance, perhaps I appear to be paranoid. 

 

As it turns out, the data is on my side. So it goes.