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I say this as an American... I can't help but feel that the US will be judged to have been on the wrong side of history in virtually every topic for which there

by 0xffff2 7mo ago

I say this as an American... I can't help but feel that the US will be judged to have been on the wrong side of history in virtually every topic for which there are sides in the last decade if not longer. For reasons I don't understand, we seem to be actively and aggressively working to destroy our country and as many global institutions as we can.

datsci_est_2015 7mo ago
> For reasons I don't understand History is full of examples, but maybe not explanations, of the type of behavior coming out of the current administration in the US. They’re not particularly special, or extraordinary, by any measure. They’ve simply made the decision to hit the “defect” button over and over again like a teenage boy discovering porn for the first time. And since the adults that preceded them were reasonable and responsible, they built up plenty of rules and norms, creating many opportunities to now hit “defect”.
- mmooss 7mo ago
  Could you give us some of these examples?
  - datsci_est_2015 7mo ago
    People spend entire careers doing these types of analyses, so my off-the-cuff comment will always be amateurish in comparison. But here goes anyway, some examples of blunders that come from a place of arrogance, or being overeager to hit the “defect” button: - Various Roman emperors overextending and destroying what their predecessors slowly built - Indigenous peoples (especially the Americas) allying with colonial forces to defeat other indigenous enemies (won the battle, lost the war) - Brexit - Perhaps the most documented regime of all time, 1930s and 40s Germany. Specific event? The eastern offensive Edit: - Royal lineages have plenty of examples, like Louis XVI
    - mmooss 7mo ago
      Those seem like over-ambition or hindsight, which is different than constantly, intentionally doing things in a way that will fail. The indiginous people's choices can't be understood without knowing their political context in regard to other indigenous people and the colonial powers.
- cindyllm 7mo ago
  [dead]
mmooss 7mo ago
Here's an hypothesis: A fundamental model of politics is similar to the model of innovation in markets: The status quo power and the challenger or disrupter power. The status quo's power rests on its institutions, stability, and the fact that it is the social norm - generally humans are tied to social norms and attack anything that violates them. The challenger, to succeed, needs to disrupt the institutions, stability, and norms, and one tactic is to just constantly attack them, regardless of the consequences, as a means to the end of taking down the status quo and gaining power.

by 0xffff2 7mo ago

datsci_est_2015 7mo ago

> For reasons I don't understand History is full of examples, but maybe not explanations, of the type of behavior coming out of the current administration in the US. They’re not particularly special, or extraordinary, by any measure. They’ve simply made the decision to hit the “defect” button over and over again like a teenage boy discovering porn for the first time. And since the adults that preceded them were reasonable and responsible, they built up plenty of rules and norms, creating many opportunities to now hit “defect”.

mmooss 7mo ago
Could you give us some of these examples?
- datsci_est_2015 7mo ago
  People spend entire careers doing these types of analyses, so my off-the-cuff comment will always be amateurish in comparison. But here goes anyway, some examples of blunders that come from a place of arrogance, or being overeager to hit the “defect” button: - Various Roman emperors overextending and destroying what their predecessors slowly built - Indigenous peoples (especially the Americas) allying with colonial forces to defeat other indigenous enemies (won the battle, lost the war) - Brexit - Perhaps the most documented regime of all time, 1930s and 40s Germany. Specific event? The eastern offensive Edit: - Royal lineages have plenty of examples, like Louis XVI
  - mmooss 7mo ago
    Those seem like over-ambition or hindsight, which is different than constantly, intentionally doing things in a way that will fail. The indiginous people's choices can't be understood without knowing their political context in regard to other indigenous people and the colonial powers.
cindyllm 7mo ago
[dead]

mmooss 7mo ago

Here's an hypothesis: A fundamental model of politics is similar to the model of innovation in markets: The status quo power and the challenger or disrupter power. The status quo's power rests on its institutions, stability, and the fact that it is the social norm - generally humans are tied to social norms and attack anything that violates them. The challenger, to succeed, needs to disrupt the institutions, stability, and norms, and one tactic is to just constantly attack them, regardless of the consequences, as a means to the end of taking down the status quo and gaining power.