There is one thing that comes to mind IMO and that people who argue that “everything is political” and that neutrality is an evil ploy to actually sneak in your evil ideas really underestimate: the point of impartiality as you describe it is to keep things simpler. Maybe a God with an infinite mind could keep in it all the issues, all the complexities, all the nuances simultaneously, and continuously figure out the optimal path. But we can’t. We come up with simple rules like “if you’re a doctor, you have a duty to cure anyone, not pick and choose” because they make things more straightforward and decouple domains. Doctors cure people. If you do crimes, there’s a system dedicated to punish you. But a doctor’s job is different, and the knowledge they need to do it has nothing to do with your rap sheet.
The frenzy to couple everything into a single tangle of complexity is driven by the misunderstanding that complacency is the only reason why your ideology is not the winning one, and that if only everyone was forced to think about it all of the time, they’d end up agreeing with it. But in reality, decoupling is necessary mostly because it allows the world to be cognitively accessible rather than driving us into either perpetual decision paralysis or perpetual paranoia (or worse, both). Destroying that doesn’t give anyone victory, we just end up all worse off.
The frenzy to couple everything into a single tangle of complexity is driven by…
In some cases, yes, but this is only one factor of many. Others include:
Our brains are often drawn to narratives, which are complex and interwoven. Hence the tendency to bundle up complex logical interdependencies into a narrative.
Our social structures are guided/constrained by our physical nature and technology. For in-person gatherings, bundling of ideas is often a dominant strategy.
For example, imagine a highly unusual congregation: a large unified gathering of monotheistic worshippers with considerable internal diversity. Rather than “one track” consisting of shared ideology, they subdivide their readings and rituals into many subgroups. Why don’t we see much of this (if any) in the real world? Because ideological bundling often pairs well with particular ways of gathering.
P.S. I personally welcome gathering styles that promote both community and rationality (spanning a diversity of experiences and values).
I don’t think this is quite the same thing. Most people actually don’t want to have to apply moral thought to every single aspect of their lives, it’s extenuating. The ones who are willing to, and try to push this mindset on others, are often singularly focused. Yes, bundling people and ideas in broad clusters is itself a common simplification we gravitate towards as a way to understand the world, but that does not prevent people from still being perfectly willing to accept some activities as fundamentally non-political.
I am not following the context of the comment above. Help me understand the connection? The main purpose of my comment above was to disagree with this sentence two levels up:
The frenzy to couple everything into a single tangle of complexity is driven by the misunderstanding that complacency is the only reason why your ideology is not the winning one
… in particular, I don’t think it captures the dominant driver of “coupling” or “bundling”.
Does the comment one level up above disagree with my claims? I’m not following the connection.
Agree 100% with all of this.
There is one thing that comes to mind IMO and that people who argue that “everything is political” and that neutrality is an evil ploy to actually sneak in your evil ideas really underestimate: the point of impartiality as you describe it is to keep things simpler. Maybe a God with an infinite mind could keep in it all the issues, all the complexities, all the nuances simultaneously, and continuously figure out the optimal path. But we can’t. We come up with simple rules like “if you’re a doctor, you have a duty to cure anyone, not pick and choose” because they make things more straightforward and decouple domains. Doctors cure people. If you do crimes, there’s a system dedicated to punish you. But a doctor’s job is different, and the knowledge they need to do it has nothing to do with your rap sheet.
The frenzy to couple everything into a single tangle of complexity is driven by the misunderstanding that complacency is the only reason why your ideology is not the winning one, and that if only everyone was forced to think about it all of the time, they’d end up agreeing with it. But in reality, decoupling is necessary mostly because it allows the world to be cognitively accessible rather than driving us into either perpetual decision paralysis or perpetual paranoia (or worse, both). Destroying that doesn’t give anyone victory, we just end up all worse off.
In some cases, yes, but this is only one factor of many. Others include:
Our brains are often drawn to narratives, which are complex and interwoven. Hence the tendency to bundle up complex logical interdependencies into a narrative.
Our social structures are guided/constrained by our physical nature and technology. For in-person gatherings, bundling of ideas is often a dominant strategy.
For example, imagine a highly unusual congregation: a large unified gathering of monotheistic worshippers with considerable internal diversity. Rather than “one track” consisting of shared ideology, they subdivide their readings and rituals into many subgroups. Why don’t we see much of this (if any) in the real world? Because ideological bundling often pairs well with particular ways of gathering.
P.S. I personally welcome gathering styles that promote both community and rationality (spanning a diversity of experiences and values).
I don’t think this is quite the same thing. Most people actually don’t want to have to apply moral thought to every single aspect of their lives, it’s extenuating. The ones who are willing to, and try to push this mindset on others, are often singularly focused. Yes, bundling people and ideas in broad clusters is itself a common simplification we gravitate towards as a way to understand the world, but that does not prevent people from still being perfectly willing to accept some activities as fundamentally non-political.
I am not following the context of the comment above. Help me understand the connection? The main purpose of my comment above was to disagree with this sentence two levels up:
… in particular, I don’t think it captures the dominant driver of “coupling” or “bundling”.
Does the comment one level up above disagree with my claims? I’m not following the connection.