Shkreli’s advice to Sammy got me thinking again about my 1969 jail experience and the BIG lessons learned. I kept the lessons about basic human nature, but I lost the lesson about government.
(I restored the lesson much later after throwing away the TV.)
Questions:
1. How did I lose it?
2. Why was this lesson losable while the more basic human lessons stayed in place?
3. How was the false alternative maintained in the face of doubts?
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1 is easy. Social media. In the late ’80s I got into political discussions on Compuserve’s conservative forum. The people there TREATED ME WITH RESPECT. They persuaded me that “elections” are an argument between TWO SIDES, and persuaded me that the conservative Repooflican side is the good side.
For unpopular people, the TINIEST SCRAP of respect has HUGE leverage against the universal mocking and contempt we endure. The leaders of that forum knew what they were doing. Smart salesmen and cult leaders always use this strategy.
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2. Why was the Machiavellian fact about government easier to lose? Not as obvious. Probably because government is a hugely complicated machine, mostly abstract, mostly behind the scenes, only visible through the lens of media. Basic human nature is always visible without lenses. After you know how it works, everything you see reinforces the facts.
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3. How was the false narrative maintained after it was induced? Here’s a new thought.
When an action fails to solve a problem, negative feedback leads us to steer against the skid, trying to return to the straight path. For simple muscular movements or basic skills, negative feedback is always obvious and correct. When the eggs are too runny, we need more heat the next time. When the eggs are charred, we need less heat the next time.
Politics has no feedback mechanism at all. “Elections” are completely meaningless and uncorrelated with the actual changes of power. Parties persuade us through the astigmatic lens of media that “voting” is a feedback mechanism, and persuade us that the eggs are runny. We need MORE voting and contributions for Our Wonderful Side in order to defeat the Horrible Other Side. We respond with more voting and contributions, and Our Party tells us that we are Oh So Close To Winning! Just a little more and we will Win, and then everything will be Heaven!!!!!!
And then after we “win” and nothing changes, the eggs are still too runny. We need a larger majority in the Senate or the House or the Court! After we hold ALL the seats, everything will be perfect! More “votes”, more contributions!!!!!!
All scams and cults work this way. You’re So Close To Salvation! A little more prayer and contributions, and you’ll get there! You’re So Close to winning the lottery salvation or the bitcoin salvation! Give us more tickets and more coins and more MONEY, and you’ll get there!!!!
Each of these cults has a fake “feedback mechanism” and a contribution. The “mechanism” (votes, prayers, tickets, coins) is completely imaginary and uncorrelated with results.
The contribution is what counts.
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Footnote for self-calibration: Writing this blog helped to record my attitudes and my doubts, and helped to organize the retrieval of sanity. In 2006 I was starting to see problems with neocon imperialism, but I was stuck in ALWAYS MORE mode. Under the sway of the neocon cult leaders, I could only see that we needed MORE war, MORE intense fighting against the Islamic enemy, to achieve total victory. In 2012, after throwing away the TV, I was finally steering AGAINST the skid, applying doubts in a proper error correction loop.
Polistra's Mill 