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CONSENUS_ILLUSION

                                             October  13, 2006
                                             December 10, 2006
The central myth of wikipedia
is that reasonable people can
agree, and make decisions
based on consensus...                  Maybe there are
                                       similar problems
This almost never works very           with more elaborate
well in the real world:                social systems, though.

Consensus means that the                 A group governed by
most stubborn person wins.               Roberts Rules quickly gets
                                         ruled by people who like
The reasonable people will               to play legalistic games.
not only not prevail,
they'll eventually leave...

   And over time the group
   will become a collection
   of the weak, governed by
   the stubborn.

       Often just one person.

       Possibly a small,
       like-minded faction.



Having said this, I suspect that
some people out there are getting
ready to suggest that *I* may be
an unreasonable fellow who
refuses to compromise...

Well, yeah, I am, but I know about the
problem and try to compensate for it;
this slows me down a lot compared to the
untempered fanatics, who plunge ahead
without ever doubting that they're right.

That's the kind of thing that I'm talking
about it: it takes work to be reasonable,
it's much eaiser to just go through the
motions and fake being reasonable; and if
you get the sense that the other guys just
aren't trying, at some point you're either
going to descend to their level, or more
likely, just walk away and spend your time
on something else.


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