2 ms·

What isn't the result of politics? This is a bad explanation—how is there so little will to act in rational self interest?

pfdietz 3mo ago
Everyone, or at least almost everyone, acts according to personal interests. There's a whole branch of political science, Public Choice Theory, that deals with this. Where did you get this idea that altruism was common? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_choice https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_choice
- lazyasciiart 3mo ago
  How did you get the idea they think anyone is being altruistic? Usually the complaint that people won’t vote in rational self interest is suggesting that people are voting based on irrational evaluations of their self interest: for the benefit of their unlikely future selves.
  - pfdietz 3mo ago
    Public choice theory explains why irrational collective results obtain from individual rational behavior. To get rational collective results requires that people act altruistically, favoring the collective over themselves.
    - lazyasciiart 3mo ago
      And they are asking why it is so hard to get rational collective results, aka in your wording why is it so hard to get people to act altruistically. So the answer to your question “why do you think altruism is common* is still “what are you talking about”.
      - pfdietz 3mo ago
        Altruism isn't common because we're created by evolution, and nothing is created by evolution without a selfish (for the genes) payoff. Supposed altruistic behavior in evolved creatures always has a selfish alterior motive (group selection, tit-for-tat payoff, for example).
        lazyasciiart 3mo ago
        So the answer to your question "why do you think altruism is common" is still what are you talking about?
- stymaar 3mo ago
  Public Choice theory is "a whole branch of political science" the same way "historic materialism" is though, with Buchanan instead of Marx, as it was created with the same kind of ideological motivations, with “state bad” instead of “capitalism bad” as the alpha and omega of the discipline. Interestingly enough, both shared the same contempt of democracy.

pfdietz 3mo ago

Everyone, or at least almost everyone, acts according to personal interests. There's a whole branch of political science, Public Choice Theory, that deals with this. Where did you get this idea that altruism was common? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_choice https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_choice

lazyasciiart 3mo ago
How did you get the idea they think anyone is being altruistic? Usually the complaint that people won’t vote in rational self interest is suggesting that people are voting based on irrational evaluations of their self interest: for the benefit of their unlikely future selves.
- pfdietz 3mo ago
  Public choice theory explains why irrational collective results obtain from individual rational behavior. To get rational collective results requires that people act altruistically, favoring the collective over themselves.
  - lazyasciiart 3mo ago
    And they are asking why it is so hard to get rational collective results, aka in your wording why is it so hard to get people to act altruistically. So the answer to your question “why do you think altruism is common* is still “what are you talking about”.
    - pfdietz 3mo ago
      Altruism isn't common because we're created by evolution, and nothing is created by evolution without a selfish (for the genes) payoff. Supposed altruistic behavior in evolved creatures always has a selfish alterior motive (group selection, tit-for-tat payoff, for example).
      - lazyasciiart 3mo ago
        So the answer to your question "why do you think altruism is common" is still what are you talking about?
stymaar 3mo ago
Public Choice theory is "a whole branch of political science" the same way "historic materialism" is though, with Buchanan instead of Marx, as it was created with the same kind of ideological motivations, with “state bad” instead of “capitalism bad” as the alpha and omega of the discipline. Interestingly enough, both shared the same contempt of democracy.