I suppose the point is that a revolution is unlikely to improve anyone's prospects of affording a car.
I don't deny that people have real reasons for wanting radical change. But they should know that the overwhelming likelihood is that overthrowing the system is going to lead to a system that is much less just and far more corrupt.
> I don't deny that people have real reasons for wanting radical change. But they should know that the overwhelming likelihood is that overthrowing the system is going to lead to a system that is much less just and far more corrupt.
The problem is that the centrist impulse to avoid breaking anything that "works" has been successfully exploited to prevent effective action to address a large number of real problems. At some point, people sense the bullshit and it starts to be rational to pick revolution to escape the trap. A big thing revolution has going for it is that it's a way to break out of local maxima and eliminate path dependent problems (by backtracking and picking a different path).
Yes, the entropy of revolution could conceivably help society reach a greater maxima. But the statistical likelihood is extremely small. Keep in mind, you aren't starting from scratch in a simulation. You'd have all the baggage from the civil war you triggered and the shocking loss of faith from corrupted revolutionary leadership, etc etc. Plus, this is all in the context of frustration that democratic progress doesn't happen fast enough.
Sensing bullshit doesn't imply that it is rational to start a revolution.
>> The problem is that the centrist impulse to avoid breaking anything that "works" has been successfully exploited to prevent effective action to address a large number of real problems. At some point, people sense the bullshit and it starts to be rational to pick revolution to escape the trap.
> But the statistical likelihood is extremely small.
My point is the "statistical likelihood" could be even smaller under the status quo.
> You'd have all the baggage from the civil war you triggered and the shocking loss of faith from corrupted revolutionary leadership, etc etc.
Also what "revolution" is has a tendency to be redefined downward, but rebutted based on the most hyperbolic versions.
> Sensing bullshit doesn't imply that it is rational to start a revolution.
The second cleverest kind of trap is the kind that convinces you it's best not escape.
You and your fellow revolutionaries take your chances at finding out whether you are actually more competent at running a society than your predecessors. The table stakes are anywhere between a peaceful legislative change and a few million lives.
I think that there's more people out there that think they can execute a competent revolution than there actually are.
I don't deny that people have real reasons for wanting radical change. But they should know that the overwhelming likelihood is that overthrowing the system is going to lead to a system that is much less just and far more corrupt.