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One of the thoughts that I've been kicking around in my head in relation to my long delayed (see procrastinated) effort-post is how a lot of blue tribe progressive types seem to be unfamiliar with the concept of the permissive vs contested vs hostile environment. I see people complaining about getting banned from an internet forum or reported to the FBI and my first reaction is the James Franco from Buster Scruggs meme, is this your first time? Similarly back in the Clinton days (that is the early 90s) I recall a lot of talk about "why are otherwise intelligent people buying this shit?" Nobody actually believes that the president didn't inhale or fuck Paula Jones do they?

My working theory is that wealthy Yale and Stanford types don't really get a lot of exposure to predators and con-men at a young age and thus they don't really develop the mental antibodies against them before entering the buisiness world. Meanwhile the kid who grew up around used car salesmen probably understands "the nudge" better than those with a 4-year degree in marketing.

That's right. Rationalists claim it was rational to trust Sam Bankman-Fried, because if his pitch was part of an academic exam to see if this person was credible, trust would be the right answer.

But that's the thing: we are not in an academic exam, this is the real world, and people are going to try to exploit your blind spots.

I often wonder if these people play poker, video games, or any kind of board game were deception is part of the game.