I understand your perspective but I think it's a bit more cynical than reality actually is. Consider that Blackstone's ratio is a logical formalism of what I d

I understand your perspective but I think it's a bit more cynical than reality actually is. Consider that Blackstone's ratio is a logical formalism of what I describe above as "giving the benefit of the doubt." Obviously the world is continuous and not discrete, so stochastic variability still counts and there will be ranges of credulity - however most people are more willing to "buy a story" than they are to be "aggressively incredulous" and as a result that's the perfect place for exploitative people to live. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstone%27s_ratio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstone%27s_ratio