Democracy doesn’t work

(written by Lawrence Krubner, however indented passages are often quotes)

There is a thread on Hacker News about how automation will get rid of all jobs. Much of what is said in the comments is incorrect. The incorrect comments are getting upvoted, because apparently the majority of the folks on Hacker News believe incorrect things about the economy. How can voting be trusted when the majority is in the wrong? How can a discussion be any good if the people who are wrong get upvoted, because their incorrect beliefs are popular? It’s sort of like race relations in the USA: how can you get a majority of people to vote for equal rights for everyone when white people are in the majority and white people benefit from unequal race relations? The result is 400 years of mass murder and mass rape and economic injustice. Only under unusual circumstances can you get a majority of people to put aside their biases and act in sane ways.