I think people seeking public office are saner than you give them credit for. Politicians tend to espouse crazy thinking because that’s how the incentives are set up, both within political parties—where signalling loyalty to the party is often paramount, so lower-ranked folks refrain from any criticism of policies and personalities: not the way a rationally-inspired organization is managed—and in the broader political arena, especially during campaigns but this is when “politics” is most visible and salient. The mantra of a successful campaign can be phrased as: “stay on message; no compromise, no debating.”
Thus, almost no one’s time is best spent on politics today, but this could be changed fairly easily. We are lucky, in that deliberative politics can be promoted incrementally both within organizations and in the broader political sphere. Especially if some parties or factions were to adopt open, deliberative methods and perhaps promote them as “more pragmatic, less ideological” and “more rationalist”; but also “more transparent and accountable”, which appeals to the more idealistic folks and perhaps challenges them to influence policy by finding tolerable compromises.
I think people seeking public office are saner than you give them credit for.
Again, even if that were true, it’s not the point. The purpose of the slogan “politics is the mind-killer” is not to discourage rationalists with political talent from becoming professional politicians; it is to prevent the dynamics of tribal-loyalty-signaling from poisoning truth-seeking discussion among those interested in the latter.
Again, even if that were true, it’s not the point. The purpose of the slogan “politics is the mind-killer” is not to discourage rationalists with political talent from becoming professional politicians; it is to prevent the dynamics of tribal-loyalty-signaling from poisoning truth-seeking discussion among those interested in the latter.
You seem to be assuming that the only way to usefully affect politics in the real world is becoming a professional politician, which is not at all obvious.
In general, political ideology has little to do with truth-seeking one way or another; rather, it is quite comparable to a personal moral code. (Indeed, we can talk about ‘political Christianity’, ‘political Islam’, ‘political environmentalism’ as being directly influenced by moral codes.) Surely we can agree that lots of folks here follow a deontological moral code, without this noticeably affecting their truth-seeking ability.
Moreover, as a matter of fact, a lot of “truth-seeking” in the real world happens through adversarial processes which are quite comparable to political dynamics (and may in fact have similar rationales, such as ensuring “fairness” in the process and outcome). For the sake of consistency, we should be forced to promote a similar slogan “Law is the mind-killer!” and refrain from any discussion about the Knox/Sollicito case, lest tribal-loyalty signaling towards either the prosecutor’s or the defendant’s “side” poison any truth-seeking effort. If anything, law is even more problematic than politics, since biased/filtered evidence is so ubiquitous in legal processes.
I think people seeking public office are saner than you give them credit for. Politicians tend to espouse crazy thinking because that’s how the incentives are set up, both within political parties—where signalling loyalty to the party is often paramount, so lower-ranked folks refrain from any criticism of policies and personalities: not the way a rationally-inspired organization is managed—and in the broader political arena, especially during campaigns but this is when “politics” is most visible and salient. The mantra of a successful campaign can be phrased as: “stay on message; no compromise, no debating.”
Thus, almost no one’s time is best spent on politics today, but this could be changed fairly easily. We are lucky, in that deliberative politics can be promoted incrementally both within organizations and in the broader political sphere. Especially if some parties or factions were to adopt open, deliberative methods and perhaps promote them as “more pragmatic, less ideological” and “more rationalist”; but also “more transparent and accountable”, which appeals to the more idealistic folks and perhaps challenges them to influence policy by finding tolerable compromises.
Again, even if that were true, it’s not the point. The purpose of the slogan “politics is the mind-killer” is not to discourage rationalists with political talent from becoming professional politicians; it is to prevent the dynamics of tribal-loyalty-signaling from poisoning truth-seeking discussion among those interested in the latter.
You seem to be assuming that the only way to usefully affect politics in the real world is becoming a professional politician, which is not at all obvious.
In general, political ideology has little to do with truth-seeking one way or another; rather, it is quite comparable to a personal moral code. (Indeed, we can talk about ‘political Christianity’, ‘political Islam’, ‘political environmentalism’ as being directly influenced by moral codes.) Surely we can agree that lots of folks here follow a deontological moral code, without this noticeably affecting their truth-seeking ability.
Moreover, as a matter of fact, a lot of “truth-seeking” in the real world happens through adversarial processes which are quite comparable to political dynamics (and may in fact have similar rationales, such as ensuring “fairness” in the process and outcome). For the sake of consistency, we should be forced to promote a similar slogan “Law is the mind-killer!” and refrain from any discussion about the Knox/Sollicito case, lest tribal-loyalty signaling towards either the prosecutor’s or the defendant’s “side” poison any truth-seeking effort. If anything, law is even more problematic than politics, since biased/filtered evidence is so ubiquitous in legal processes.