Individuals are capable of altering their behavior. Groups behave in accordance with incentive structures.

Hoping for and/or expecting societal change through mass application of willpower is wishful thinking.

That sounds like an argument against democracy.

It's not difficult to argue against democracy, but it's very difficult to find an alternative that isn't much worse.

stouset 2 years ago | parent | prev [-]

I genuinely don’t follow.

> Hoping for and/or expecting societal change through mass application of willpower

This sounds like the same mechanism for democracy, educating a broad populace and hoping they make the right (best?) choices.

	▲	stouset 2 years ago \| parent [-]
		Educating a person is materially different from getting them to act against their incentives. Doing so with a population is even more so. The average American is overweight and doesn’t exercise. They are almost certainly aware they need to reduce their calorie intake and spend at least a couple of hours a week engaging in physical activity. Knowing you ought to change you behavior and actually doing it are completely different issues. I actually happen to think that both are basically losing battles these days, but the underlying reasons aren’t the same.