Are there really that many unbelievably stupid people?

anigbrowl 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

Humans display a reduced set of consistent behavioral phenotypes in dyadic games https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1600451

Evidence suggests that about 30% of people will accept being worse off in order to inflict a greater loss on someone else. They form a plurality, with the other groups being win-win types (~20%), loss-averse pessimists (~20%), selfless volunteers (~15%), and inconsistent folks who may be confused (~15%).

Now this is just empirical observation rather than proof, but it's a good quality observation, enough that it has heuristic value. If you admit the possibility that about 1/3 of people are mean, then an awful lot of ongoing political phenomena become much easier to understand.

	▲	spencerflem 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		Yeah, I think this is super important. I didn’t come to this easily, as someone who generally believes in the goodness of others. But it’s really the only explanation at this point

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spencerflem 6 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Some of them are unbelievably cruel

	▲	JKCalhoun 6 days ago \| parent [-]
		Probably the most horrible thing I heard this year: “I’m ready to watch people burn now.”

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animitronix 6 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Yup!

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BeFlatXIII 6 days ago | parent | prev [-]

This is what abolishing knowledge tests for voting caused. It was an unintended consequence of a necessary reform.

	▲	ndsipa_pomu 6 days ago \| parent [-]
		As I recall, those knowledge tests were specifically designed to prevent black people voting. Unfortunately, the USA seems to be regressing to a system whereby only rich white men would be able to vote (and only if they're going to vote for the fascists).