This is why I'm not a public figure, though I have significant reach. Any allyship from me can at best amplify momentum in an existing direction a bit, not materially change the course of significant events.
And on enmity... I can't finish any significant fight I can start
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Beating up on small-account randos is of course still an option, but that's basically working at being cringe in public
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Pretty much. The model is not original to me. It's basically a restatement of the Hannah Arendt "appearing in public" model of free action.
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Replying to @vgr
So in this model, public life is entirely about who is allied with or opposed to whom, and that's the only thing that matters?
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In fact, to take 's point to the logical extreme, if you look at Clifford Geertz model of "deep play" you don't even have to say anything. You just have to publicly bet a certain way. jstor.org/stable/20024056
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In Geertz' model which uses public life in a small Balinese village as revealed by betting dynamics around cockfights, the "shallow" players merely bet "rationally" for gains. The "deep" players bet to signal alliances and enmities, not to win.
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Well... not quite. The winning matters, but not as a mark of your betting acumen. It matters as a sign of divine favor for you (and your allies). All bets are visible, but the shallow player bets are "working in public." The deep player bets are "acting as public figures"
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You can see versions of this in any public space. For eg. in VC, the top 5 firms are top 5 not merely because they lead rounds with big checks, but also because they represent "deep" bets that affect outcomes not merely bet on them. Mid-tier VCs can only place shallow bets.
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For those new to this idea space, another connection worth noting is Huizenga's Homo Ludens. Arendtian public life is a kind of "play" in his sense.
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A more intriguing connection is to Carse. Is Arendtian public life a finite or infinite game. IMO, as it is actually practiced it is a finite game. Very rarely, someone elevates it to an infinite game. I can't think of one in my lifetime.
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Remember the definition of infinite game is "play to continue the game." Possibly MLK's public stewardship of civil rights counts. It "continued the game" of American democracy that ight otherwise have stumbled on an existential crisis due to unprocessed dark matter of slavery.


