> Anders--I can think of two possible meanings for your utterance.
> Before I try to reply, did you mean "I wonder how they become (or stay)
> stupid or irrational"? Or did you mean "I wonder how they wind up
> holding the positions/power/occupations/influence they do"?
>
> Or were you just blowing off steam, and I should be quiet?
All of the above :-)
Although I think the question is interesting and relevant: how can we
avoid becoming as irrational or stupid as others, and are there useful
ways of helping people out of such states?
A lot of stupidity is just lack of education/experience in thinking
and acting, a simple lack of knowledge about how the world and oneself
works. That can be dealt with to some extent. A more worrying form is
when it becomes a self-supporting belief system, actively preventing
the victim from waking up. Are there any really good ways of
undermining such schemata?
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y