> pet

Yes

https://academic.oup.com/schizophreniabulletin/article/50/3/...

> Our findings provide support for the hypothesis that cat exposure is associated with an increased risk of broadly defined schizophrenia-related disorders

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00223...

> Our findings suggest childhood cat ownership has conditional associations with psychotic experiences in adulthood.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...

> Exposure to household pets during infancy and childhood may be associated with altered rates of development of psychiatric disorders in later life.

Cats in particular are correlated with getting toxoplasmosis. About other pets - IME, people who have been disappointed by humans / feel like they don't really fit into human society like pets as an alternative emotional support. I don't really understand it, but that's the observation.

Pets? Probably not.

But there have always been crank forums online. Before that, there were cranks discovering and creating subcultures, selling/sending books and pamphlets to each other.

Books and internet, sort of? There is so much choice that almost everyone can find someone or something that agrees with whatever ideas they may have.

Don't forget rock music, especially when you play it backwards.

That will install windows!

Yes.