Robin Hanson | Politics Isn't about Policy

Robin Hanson, (Hanson n.d.)

Thoughts

X isn’t (only) about Y

Related: The purpose of a system is what it does

Notes

• Food isn’t about Nutrition
• Clothes aren’t about Comfort
• Bedrooms aren’t about Sleep
• Marriage isn’t about Romance
• Talk isn’t about Info
• Laughter isn’t about Jokes
• Charity isn’t about Helping
• Church isn’t about God
• Art isn’t about Insight
• Medicine isn’t about Health
• Consulting isn’t about Advice
• School isn’t about Learning
• Research isn’t about Progress
• Politics isn’t about Policy

The above summarizes much of my contrarian world view. (What else should go on this list?) When I say “X is not about Y,” I mean that while Y is the function commonly said to drive most X behavior, in fact some other function Z drives X behavior more [Realpolitik, Signaling]. I won’t support all these claims here; for today, let’s just talk politics.

[formatting mine]

Bibliography