Human beings often perceive patterns and deliberate action, where systemic explanations would suffice: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia https://en.wikipe

Human beings often perceive patterns and deliberate action, where systemic explanations would suffice: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia A good example is popular discourse on 'elites'. You could perceive this as a shadowy cabal consciously acting, or as systemic flaws in society which perpetuate inequality. Ryan's account leans towards the former, shadowy Cabal. VCs have systemic flaws in perception and they're subject to a herd mentality (e.g. startups are bimodally hot or not). The systemic theory can explain Ryan's fundraising experiences more simply than the 'Mob Bosses of Stripe and YC' theory.