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This incuriosity also applies in other fields. Why didn't everyone line up to vote for Hilary? Why did Trump win so bigly after Biden? The institutional response was to call dissenters everything from "deplorables" to "dangerous racists" to "fascist" to "almost literally the Führer reincarnate". The feedback mechanisms no longer exist (if they ever did), so there's no self-correction.
Yep.
Cue my Skin in the Game rant.
We are TEN FUCKING YEARS into Trump's political career and they STILL DO NOT GET why he is genuinely popular, and why he keeps 'winning' even as they characterize him as a buffoon.
People that are THIS wrong for THIS long ought to be filtered out of the court of public opinion, should not have positions of political authority. But no, they persist on the power of mass delusion (which, ironically, is what enables Trump to be successful too).
This is why one of the most genuinely useful rationalist skills to learn is "notice when you are confused" and "make beliefs pay rent."
If I'm constantly surprised by certain outcomes, clearly there's a knowledge or logic gap I need to address, rather than just stepping on the same rake over and over again.
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