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Mob psychology now characterises the internet
A plea for nuance and sanity
People are much less rational than we tend to give ourselves credit for. As I detailed in a previous essay, we do not make decisions based on a computer-like cost-benefit analysis. Rather, we are primarily governed by the hot-blooded responses of the limbic system, with rational calculation — to the extent that we have mastered it at all — mainly stepping in when emotion fails to provide guidance.
These emotional systems are a blunt instrument. They operate impressionistically and instinctually, guiding our actions towards those that evolution, in its not-so-infinite wisdom, has deemed optimal for our survival. There is little room for nuance or fine distinctions when it comes to surviving in the jungle.
Given the vital significance of social standing and acceptance in our evolutionary past, it’s also not surprising that social cues play an enormously important role in guiding these gut-level judgements, even while we may think we are forming our own independent views. We learned very early in our social evolutionary history the art of identifying social trends, adopting and expressing conforming beliefs, “othering” outsiders in order to strengthen group identity, and so on.
These dynamics have only been amplified in the social media age. Comment feeds, combined…
