elon musk is the result of an accidental (?) form of memetic selection. criticize everyone for doing anything and you create a world in which the only people who do anything are the ones immune to criticism. and tbc, this is not good; immunity to criticism makes cult leaders
Conversation
wonder if it’s some kind of high modernist thing to believe that only the first-order effects of an intervention matter, and refuse to think ecologically
“oh, thing bad, better criticize it. this will definitely cause there to be less of thing. yep. that always works”
Replying to
related to why i feel pessimistic about “command” and “shame” as theories of change. “frequently backfires”
Quote Tweet
2. “shame” - shame people for doing the wrong thing and they’ll do the right thing. sort of a variant of command. i’m pessimistic. i think shame has mostly broken as a mechanism for changing people’s behavior, and frequently backfires. i try not to use it myself
Show this thread
1
17
the leverage points essay feels related, might be a place to start idk:
1