> I think people generally care about the public interest because of their shared humanity. People generally identify with their society and want to see it prosper.
This is far from universally true, and to the small degree that it is true, it is an aberration from the vast majority of human history.
> They should also care that their society remains well structured because it increases the probability that their own situation improves over the course of their life, and that their children/grandkids will be wealthy.
Should they? Sure. Will they? History says it is very unlikely.
What also comes to mind is the sociological study where they present two people with $100 to split between them. Person A decides the split, person B chooses whether to accept the split or reject the split, in which case the $100 is taken back and neither person gets anything.
The problem with your whole philosophy is that it supposes that Person B will accept the split no matter how much it is skewed to Person A, because it is the 'rational' thing to do from an individual's perspective (any money is better than no money). However, what actually happens is that above the 60% - 70% mark, Person B will often reject the split, just to spite Person A.
> They gain nothing from believing in the false promises of demagogues, except the ephemeral contentment of false hope.
Demagogues work to convince people that they are getting an unfair split and that they should reject the split. It makes their job a lot easier to do if people really are getting an unfair split.
>>This is far from universally true, and to the small degree that it is true, it is an aberration from the vast majority of human history.
I think you're interpreting my statement to suggest that people generally prioritize the public interest over their personal interest. I'm not. I'm only claiming that people, ceteris paribus, generally would prefer that society at large prosper. But they would not at their own expense.
>>What also comes to mind is the sociological study where they present two people with $100 to split between them.
This is very true.
Thiel famously believes in Rene Girard's theory that jealousy emerges from the mimetic instinct, and that religious admoninations against it are a social innovation to constrain the dark side of mimesis:
This is far from universally true, and to the small degree that it is true, it is an aberration from the vast majority of human history.
> They should also care that their society remains well structured because it increases the probability that their own situation improves over the course of their life, and that their children/grandkids will be wealthy.
Should they? Sure. Will they? History says it is very unlikely.
What also comes to mind is the sociological study where they present two people with $100 to split between them. Person A decides the split, person B chooses whether to accept the split or reject the split, in which case the $100 is taken back and neither person gets anything.
The problem with your whole philosophy is that it supposes that Person B will accept the split no matter how much it is skewed to Person A, because it is the 'rational' thing to do from an individual's perspective (any money is better than no money). However, what actually happens is that above the 60% - 70% mark, Person B will often reject the split, just to spite Person A.
> They gain nothing from believing in the false promises of demagogues, except the ephemeral contentment of false hope.
Demagogues work to convince people that they are getting an unfair split and that they should reject the split. It makes their job a lot easier to do if people really are getting an unfair split.