Simone Weil is the patron saint of anomalous persons • Hacker News Board

Re: Simone Weil is the patron saint of anomalous persons

#11

Post by atoav » Sun, Jun 16, 2019, 8:07 AM UTC

Nasrudith wrote: post #6

inflatableDodo wrote: post #2

Agree with her on the dangers posed by political parties. Most people don't seem to have a political position, they have a team.

While I wouldn't go as far as her I agree that political parties are problematic but perhaps also symptomatic of a larger underlying problem with the political structure - that the process of 'making the right decision' and the process of 'winning the election' have two separate strategies. I cannot say for sure if it is solveable or unsolvable and in what contexts or systems. For instance we know now with game theor…

I think the true question isn’t whether it is solvable, but if it can be solved by better means than a two party system (it can, just look in other nations).

Two party systems are good for simulating democracies because you effectively prevent newcomers from bringing fresh uncorrupted ideas into the discourse. The only way of delivering positive change that isn’t for the worse at the cost of the poor majority in such a system is crisis or very exceptional circumstances.

We all liked democracy, because it allows us to change regime without revolution, in a two party system with corrupt actors on both sides this is essentially impoasible

Re: Simone Weil is the patron saint of anomalous persons

#12

Post by atoav » Sun, Jun 16, 2019, 8:16 AM UTC

crooked-v wrote: post #8

inflatableDodo wrote: post #2

Agree with her on the dangers posed by political parties. Most people don't seem to have a political position, they have a team.

Keep in mind the effects of first-past-the-post voting systems, though. People would probably be more variable in their preferences if the game-theory effects of actually expressing them at the voting booth weren't generally negative.

When I first learned that the US had such a system (my picture of the US was naivly positive back then), I couldn’t understand why this can be called democratic.

Re: Simone Weil is the patron saint of anomalous persons

#13

Post by vixen99 » Sun, Jun 16, 2019, 12:59 PM UTC

The photo used in the article (and in most others about her) is of Simone Weil when she was thirteen. That's a little unusual except in the case of child film stars where it's obviously relevant. As suggested, Weil later went out of her way to dress in such a way as to minimize her physical attractiveness.

Re: Simone Weil is the patron saint of anomalous persons

#14

Post by specialist » Sun, Jun 16, 2019, 4:59 PM UTC

Nasrudith wrote: post #6

inflatableDodo wrote: post #2

Agree with her on the dangers posed by political parties. Most people don't seem to have a political position, they have a team.

While I wouldn't go as far as her I agree that political parties are problematic but perhaps also symptomatic of a larger underlying problem with the political structure - that the process of 'making the right decision' and the process of 'winning the election' have two separate strategies. I cannot say for sure if it is solveable or unsolvable and in what contexts or systems. For instance we know now with game theor…

"first past the post essentially guarantees a maximum of two viable political parties"

aka Duverger's Law

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duverger%27s_law

TLDR: Plurality form of elections results in two parties, because each side tries to form the smallest winning coalition.

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It's great that the structural flaws of FPTP are becoming more widely known. Increases the likelihood of useful course corrections.