Eli5: Why is it easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled?
In: 634
Because when you fool someone they think they are right. But when you tell them they are fooled you need to convince them that they are wrong.
Because we want answers.
A lie is at least something we can chew on, while convincing someone they were lied to pits your advice against their own ego, having believed the lie. You introduce uncertainty, so *you* must be the bad agent.
Vegas is based on the theory people would rather “double down” and lose even more, than admit defeat and just quit where they are.
Confirmation bias along with being stupid. Powerful combo. Intelligent people constantly review their ideas and beliefs. Stupid people don’t.
Fooling someone only requires that someone be human.
Convincing them that they have been fooled requires them to be introspective about the fact that they are human.
It’s a bit like those old SAT questions.
Wizard’s First Rule: People are stupid.
People will believe in anything if they want it to be true, or they fear it may be true.
Convincing them that something may be true other than the thing they have ALREADY CHOSEN TO BELIEVE IN, is where it all the unpleasantness begins.
Because no one wants to admit they are gullible enough to believe a falsehood, even one as dubious as “the Earth is flat”.
Nobody wants to admit they were wrong. It’s pride they would rather die than lose their sense of pride
Fooling people is about exploiting their weaknesses.
Convincing people they’ve been fooled is about exposing their weaknesses.
Unless someone knows how to identify red flags, people will believe what they want to hear. For example when you want to deceive someone into a pyramid scheme, you tell them it’s an easy way to make money, which is what anyone wants to hear. Once they’re in it, they want to be reassured that they made the right choice, but don’t want to hear that they’re being scammed.
Eli5: Why is it easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled?
In: 634
Because when you fool someone they think they are right. But when you tell them they are fooled you need to convince them that they are wrong.
Because we want answers.
A lie is at least something we can chew on, while convincing someone they were lied to pits your advice against their own ego, having believed the lie. You introduce uncertainty, so *you* must be the bad agent.
Vegas is based on the theory people would rather “double down” and lose even more, than admit defeat and just quit where they are.
Confirmation bias along with being stupid. Powerful combo. Intelligent people constantly review their ideas and beliefs. Stupid people don’t.
Fooling someone only requires that someone be human.
Convincing them that they have been fooled requires them to be introspective about the fact that they are human.
It’s a bit like those old SAT questions.
Wizard’s First Rule: People are stupid.
People will believe in anything if they want it to be true, or they fear it may be true.
Convincing them that something may be true other than the thing they have ALREADY CHOSEN TO BELIEVE IN, is where it all the unpleasantness begins.
Because no one wants to admit they are gullible enough to believe a falsehood, even one as dubious as “the Earth is flat”.
Nobody wants to admit they were wrong. It’s pride they would rather die than lose their sense of pride
Fooling people is about exploiting their weaknesses.
Convincing people they’ve been fooled is about exposing their weaknesses.
Unless someone knows how to identify red flags, people will believe what they want to hear. For example when you want to deceive someone into a pyramid scheme, you tell them it’s an easy way to make money, which is what anyone wants to hear. Once they’re in it, they want to be reassured that they made the right choice, but don’t want to hear that they’re being scammed.
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