Sorry I was unclear: "it's economically profitable to lie to people" ... for the agent promulgating the lie. Which incentivizes the creation of widely-believed

Sorry I was unclear: "it's economically profitable to lie to people" ... for the agent promulgating the lie. Which incentivizes the creation of widely-believed fictions, despite societal cost. Climate change is dishonest scientists; sugar is healthy wonder-food; opioids are low-risk; vaccination causes autism.