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I am using the academic definition of rational actor. But the true irrational ones are the voters. They elect the same folks with a track record of serving the

I am using the academic definition of rational actor. But the true irrational ones are the voters. They elect the same folks with a track record of serving the corporate elites and then get upset when the same politicians act against them. Blame the voters. Voters have agency. The voters are the enablers of the politicians.

klabb3 5y ago
> Blame the voters. Voters have agency. Meta: I appreciate your candidness in getting to the point, I wish more political debate was like this instead of wrapped in layers of fluff. I disagree though, and I'd go further and say selectively assigning agency - especially on a binary basis - distorts the solution space and waters down any good faith attempts to further the discussion, albeit unintentionally. Our implementation of democracy is not a magically balanced game where incentives line up in perfection. As a result, you cannot point to an outcome and blame the players any more than you can do in a video game with a shitty meta. In reality, players interpret and influence the rules of the game itself. In particular, our modern version of democracy is based on the fundamentals of marketing - where actors influence (aka nudge) aggregate behavior and sentiments, to get what they want. This system is vulnerable to feedback cycles leading to large concentrations of power - both political and corporate. The last decade is a prime example of both - not just in the US, but globally.
uoaei 5y ago
> I am using the academic definition of rational actor. No you're not. You're assuming specific time and influence horizons for what can be considered an "outcome" of allegedly rational actions, and using that to retroactively define rationality. If we consider "avoiding fucking up the entire planet so that the economy can boom by including more participants and economic activity, so that Amazon can grow even bigger and more profitable" to be the outcome that we are considering, then what Amazon does is highly irrational.
sobkas 5y ago
<Blame the voters. Voters have agency. The voters are the enablers of the politicians. And then we have gerrymandering and voter suppression, good luck with getting a vote that counts.
- SyzygistSix 5y ago
  People don't even try. Turnouts in the primaries are dismal. And most states have early voting periods. Texas has 10 days of early voting. My state has 20. If it is difficult to vote, that just shows how important it is.

klabb3 5y ago

> Blame the voters. Voters have agency. Meta: I appreciate your candidness in getting to the point, I wish more political debate was like this instead of wrapped in layers of fluff. I disagree though, and I'd go further and say selectively assigning agency - especially on a binary basis - distorts the solution space and waters down any good faith attempts to further the discussion, albeit unintentionally. Our implementation of democracy is not a magically balanced game where incentives line up in perfection. As a result, you cannot point to an outcome and blame the players any more than you can do in a video game with a shitty meta. In reality, players interpret and influence the rules of the game itself. In particular, our modern version of democracy is based on the fundamentals of marketing - where actors influence (aka nudge) aggregate behavior and sentiments, to get what they want. This system is vulnerable to feedback cycles leading to large concentrations of power - both political and corporate. The last decade is a prime example of both - not just in the US, but globally.

uoaei 5y ago

> I am using the academic definition of rational actor. No you're not. You're assuming specific time and influence horizons for what can be considered an "outcome" of allegedly rational actions, and using that to retroactively define rationality. If we consider "avoiding fucking up the entire planet so that the economy can boom by including more participants and economic activity, so that Amazon can grow even bigger and more profitable" to be the outcome that we are considering, then what Amazon does is highly irrational.

sobkas 5y ago

<Blame the voters. Voters have agency. The voters are the enablers of the politicians. And then we have gerrymandering and voter suppression, good luck with getting a vote that counts.

SyzygistSix 5y ago
People don't even try. Turnouts in the primaries are dismal. And most states have early voting periods. Texas has 10 days of early voting. My state has 20. If it is difficult to vote, that just shows how important it is.