Popularity vs. Truth
As humans, we have an innate desire to fit in.
We often align our beliefs with those around us, shaping what seems right or safe to believe.
But just because a majority believes something doesn’t make it true. Majorities can be wrong, and social dynamics can easily suppress unpopular truths.
Throughout history, many widely held beliefs have been proven wrong. The earth was once believed to be flat, and the sun was thought to orbit our planet. These ideas were popular, but they were not true.
“Truth is not determined by consensus or popularity.” — Naval Ravikant
In today’s world, social media amplifies popular opinions, often drowning out dissenting voices. This creates echo chambers where falsehoods can thrive simply because they’re widely accepted.
But truth isn’t a popularity contest.
The thing most believe isn’t necessarily true. At the same time, though, a dissenting opinion isn’t true just because it’s counter-mainstream.
Truth is orthogonal to popularity. It doesn’t depend on it: one way or the other.
To find out what’s true requires critical thinking and an understanding of the incentives at play for people to believe what they believe.
“The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.” — Flannery O'Connor
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This article reminded me of what Charlie Munger said
"It's very, very important to create human systems that are hard to cheat. Otherwise, you're ruining your civilization, because these big incentives will create incentive-caused bias and people will rationalize that bad behavior is okay. Then, if somebody else does it, now you've got at least two psychological principles: incentive-caused bias plus social proof. Not only that but you get Serpico effects: If enough people are profiting in a general social climate of doing wrong, then they'll turn on you and become dangerous enemies if you try and blow the whistle. It's very dangerous to ignore these principles and let slop creep in. Powerful psychological forces are at work for evil."