12 votes

"Saints, Knaves, and Moralists of Internet Communities" by Ian Vanagas, based on the writings of Peter Turchin

Posted by umlautsuser123
Tags: technology, internet, communities.online, peter turchin, author.ian vanagas
https://ianvanagas.com/2021/06/07/saints-knaves-and-moralists-of-internet-communities/

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Authors
ivanagas
Published
Jun 7 2021
Word count
1324 words

2 comments

  1. umlautsuser123
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    This is humanities applied to the internet, based on of Peter Turchin's analysis in War and Peace and War. I like it a lot and plan to buy his book to read; my own general view point is that...

    This is humanities applied to the internet, based on of Peter Turchin's analysis in War and Peace and War. I like it a lot and plan to buy his book to read; my own general view point is that society can be divided into "shit-stirrers" and "people who just want to go on with their lives."

    In his book War and Peace and War, Peter Turchin explains group coordination. People aren’t driven purely by self-interest. He argues there are three categories of people: knaves, saints, and moralists.

    The self-interested, rational agents which Turchin deems “knaves” never contribute to the common good and choose to free ride unless forced to do so by punishment. ...

    Second, there are “saints” who contribute to the common good, even when it is obvious to everybody that cooperation has failed (although most tend to do it less). ...

    Finally, there are “moralists.” This group constitutes the largest number of people. They prefer to contribute so everyone is better off, but in the absence of a mechanism to punish knaves, become disgusted by opportunistic behavior and withdraw their cooperation.

    5 votes
  2. flowerdance
    Link
    I understand that the author had to simplify and generalize so that it's easier to understand, but really it's a tad bit more complicated than that. For one, there's a reason we have terms like...

    I understand that the author had to simplify and generalize so that it's easier to understand, but really it's a tad bit more complicated than that.

    For one, there's a reason we have terms like Saint complex, self-righteousness, virtue signalling, woke moralist (unironic thanks to J Peterson), and a bunch of other terms. It's because people tend to act like they are more superior and end up wagging their finger at lesser individuals. Sometimes, they're also incredibly misleading and veil their supposed knowledge with half-truths and lies.

    There's a nice quote to it all: "Talking about right or wrong by people who think they're always right."

    1 vote