The commonality in all this is fear: the sensation of it, the stoking of it, the rage it generates. Like any strong emotion, fear creates an opening. To interrogate the mark, we have to track backward from the con. The person who seeks mushroom powder to secure immortality, the person preparing for a war against the Devil, the person who damns his country as full of delusional dog people is a fearful one and a rageful one. It’s someone who fits Konnikova’s definition of a mark perfectly: filled to the skin with unease at change and
