It is not a coincidence that politicians have developed this ardently simplist sensibility at a time when complexity is growing. Voters are simplists too.
The article is jarring, as it seemingly describes the Dunning-Kruger Effect interspersed with other related cognitive biases, which are generally applicable to the society as a whole; which then is contrasted with the mile-wide-inch-deep philosophy of politicians, to segue into the hook of 'Simplism'. The vague 'elephant in the room, suggests that there will be more bull in the shop' type of writing is devoid of any incisive views. There is no identification of the group that are most accused of being simpletons, nor is there any real explanation of how/why they came into existence. Whilst politicians are dismissed by the virtue of having mysteriously acquired a new skill-set, even though it is their trade-craft to deliver platitudes, repeat meaningless slogans, spout ambiguous words, peddle fallacies, twist statistics, promise bottled unicorn farts etc.
The more people see through fear (lies we tell ourselves to be merciful to ourselves in lieu of the pain of knowledge) the more it becomes clear that those they fear are just different projections of themselves. That this phenomenon called higher level consciousness is something impossible to define or categorize and the more we cut away things to get to the center of what makes the "soul" of every individual, the more it becomes apparent that we are what we fear. It's a beautifully twisted contradiction.
Some people would find this truth disconcerting and opt for the kind of simplicity that confirms cognitive biases rather than the primordial truth that is at the same time simple and fractally complex and spiraling. I find the coastline analogy given in the article quite apt. I think the internet making it harder to delude oneself has helped here. Or at least it did prior to this ugly misinformation and propaganda saturating it currently.
Coming from a small town - Kingman, which I understand Sasha Baren Coen is a fan of - with the usual small town bullshit (e.g. "well if we just locked the border and put 'trespassers will be shot, survivors will be shot twice' our problems would be solved") I can say that I continue to be astounded and thankful that I turned out to react to this truth in a scholarly fashion, just hoping I can learn the fractals to their deepest depth. But I can also recognize the allure of the cited "Simplism" and falling to it in horror if they cannot cope with the aforementioned revelation. I think even the most scholarly and even-minded among us can recognize that allure.
Not even sure I can be angry at them. Disappointed perhaps. If I was able to climb out of the droning sludge of this mindset I am almost certain literally anyone else can.
I find politicians to be reflections of ourselves in the same fashion. They're the outer-shell of the fractal. Whereas in our brains we have sides of ourselves that are terrified of the true nature of things and put walls of narratives in front to categorize the world into something we can understand, as a collective organism we prop up these politicians to be the macro-simplicity in the same way the neurons of our individual brains are. I therefore find it appropriate that we loath them much like we loathe the worse natures of ourselves.
Still though, at the end of the day it's us writing the story like that because that's what we want to read. The politicians don't manifest themselves or perform for a void, and I wouldn't know how to fix this segment of the population any more than I would know how to fix our own individual worse natures. Would have to agree it's driving us into a sea though.
The examples like zippers and pianos are rather different from the social/political examples that are his real target.
The difference is that the complexity of a piano is an inevitable feature of it (at least until someone invents a simpler version). But it is far from obvious that the complexity of the tax code, or the EU, or how schools are funded is functional.
These political systems may be complex precisely in order to confuse the voters, in which case it is quite rational for the voters to try to push for simplicity - for example, avoiding the complexity of the EU by simply leaving it.
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[ 3.8 ms ] story [ 14.8 ms ] threadThe article is jarring, as it seemingly describes the Dunning-Kruger Effect interspersed with other related cognitive biases, which are generally applicable to the society as a whole; which then is contrasted with the mile-wide-inch-deep philosophy of politicians, to segue into the hook of 'Simplism'. The vague 'elephant in the room, suggests that there will be more bull in the shop' type of writing is devoid of any incisive views. There is no identification of the group that are most accused of being simpletons, nor is there any real explanation of how/why they came into existence. Whilst politicians are dismissed by the virtue of having mysteriously acquired a new skill-set, even though it is their trade-craft to deliver platitudes, repeat meaningless slogans, spout ambiguous words, peddle fallacies, twist statistics, promise bottled unicorn farts etc.
Some people would find this truth disconcerting and opt for the kind of simplicity that confirms cognitive biases rather than the primordial truth that is at the same time simple and fractally complex and spiraling. I find the coastline analogy given in the article quite apt. I think the internet making it harder to delude oneself has helped here. Or at least it did prior to this ugly misinformation and propaganda saturating it currently.
Coming from a small town - Kingman, which I understand Sasha Baren Coen is a fan of - with the usual small town bullshit (e.g. "well if we just locked the border and put 'trespassers will be shot, survivors will be shot twice' our problems would be solved") I can say that I continue to be astounded and thankful that I turned out to react to this truth in a scholarly fashion, just hoping I can learn the fractals to their deepest depth. But I can also recognize the allure of the cited "Simplism" and falling to it in horror if they cannot cope with the aforementioned revelation. I think even the most scholarly and even-minded among us can recognize that allure.
Not even sure I can be angry at them. Disappointed perhaps. If I was able to climb out of the droning sludge of this mindset I am almost certain literally anyone else can.
I find politicians to be reflections of ourselves in the same fashion. They're the outer-shell of the fractal. Whereas in our brains we have sides of ourselves that are terrified of the true nature of things and put walls of narratives in front to categorize the world into something we can understand, as a collective organism we prop up these politicians to be the macro-simplicity in the same way the neurons of our individual brains are. I therefore find it appropriate that we loath them much like we loathe the worse natures of ourselves.
Still though, at the end of the day it's us writing the story like that because that's what we want to read. The politicians don't manifest themselves or perform for a void, and I wouldn't know how to fix this segment of the population any more than I would know how to fix our own individual worse natures. Would have to agree it's driving us into a sea though.
The difference is that the complexity of a piano is an inevitable feature of it (at least until someone invents a simpler version). But it is far from obvious that the complexity of the tax code, or the EU, or how schools are funded is functional.
These political systems may be complex precisely in order to confuse the voters, in which case it is quite rational for the voters to try to push for simplicity - for example, avoiding the complexity of the EU by simply leaving it.