Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Why We are Susceptible to Manipulation

from Washington's Blog. Good followup article to the one above.
Our brains assume that we can tell truth from fiction, because they evolved in very small groups where we knew everyone extremely well, and usually could see for ourselves what was true.

It is therefore much easier for a wolf in sheep's clothing to succeed than in a small group setting.

Indeed, sociopaths would have been discovered very quickly in a small group. But in huge societies like our's, they can rise to positions of power and influence.
Such findings support a radical decentralization of our society such as is described in Inclusive Democracy, The Simpler Way, libertarian socialism, etc.