54
CGP Grey - The Rules for Rulers
(www.youtube.com)
This should be shown in every civics class IMO
It absolutely should.
This video, and the book it's based on, unironically started my transition from neoliberal to democratic socialist.
Which I think is funny, because I don't think the authors, Bruce Bueno De Mesquita and Alistair Smith, are particularly leftist.
I assume the video is based on "The Dictator's Handbook" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dictator%27s_Handbook?
The video, helps for me, conceptualise the rationale where one sees some of the decisions that take place in the world.
Makes me think past an individual and questions how an action is targeted for a result.
That's right.
While the video is a good summary of the framing of the book (the selectorate theory of politics), I still recommend reading the book if you find the topic interesting. They go into a bunch of case studies on how you can apply the framing in wildly different circumstances, and make a very compelling case for how increasing the numbers of participants in a system improves the outcomes for everyone involved.
The video had a good example on how important voting in a functional democracy is, as it applies pressure and weakens the grip of stronger "keys" as the ones in charge must try to balance self-interest with survival. It also shows how this power can also be used against itself as those in charge try to manipulate the system towards a desired outcome.
Also thank you for confirming what book the video is based on
I think there's 2 kinds of people. One kind reads or watches this and thinks "this is horrible and this system should be abolished", while the other kind thinks "I need to screw others over so I can retain what power I have, and try increase it". The second kind includes the "temporarily financially embarrassed" who see socialism as a terrible thing even if it would benefit them.
Something that i think is important to understand about this, and while Grey does mention it, its brief and towards the end, is that this framework isn't unique to governments. These patterns show up in human organization at basically every level.
So I'm going to push back on the idea that
this is horrible and this system should be abolished
Depending on what "this system" means to you.
I think it's much more useful to understand the incentives at play and build systems that minimize the damage consolidated power can do, and limit the ability for power to accumulate. That is... very much easier said than done, but I think it's needed effort.
I totally agree. I guess that's also what I meant but couldn't express.
My comment was about our current society. But it applies to lots of things like family relationships, work etc.
This video is highly recommended by Tournesol community:
[49🌻] CGP Grey: The Rules for Rulers
#Tournesol is an open-source web tool made by a non profit organization, evaluating the overall quality of videos to fight against misinformation and dangerous content.
this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2024
54 points (90.9% liked)
Videos
14249 readers
152 users here now
For sharing interesting videos from around the Web!
Rules
- Videos only
- Follow the global Mastodon.World rules and the Lemmy.World TOS while posting and commenting.
- Don't be a jerk
- No advertising
- No political videos, post those to !politicalvideos@lemmy.world instead.
- Avoid clickbait titles. (Tip: Use dearrow)
- Link directly to the video source and not for example an embedded video in an article or tracked sharing link.
- Duplicate posts may be removed
Note: bans may apply to both !videos@lemmy.world and !politicalvideos@lemmy.world
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS