The Most Intolerant Wins: The Dictatorship of the Small Minority
24th February 2018
T he best example I know that gives insights into the functioning of a complex system is with the following situation. It suffices for an intransigent minority –a certain type of intransigent minorities –to reach a minutely small level, say three or four percent of the total population, for the entire population to have to submit to their preferences. Further, an optical illusion comes with the dominance of the minority: a naive observer would be under the impression that the choices and preferences are those of the majority. If it seems absurd, it is because our scientific intuitions aren’t calibrated for that (fughedabout scientific and academic intuitions and snap judgments; they don’t work and your standard intellectualization fails with complex systems, though not your grandmothers’ wisdom).
Certain fashionable minorities have influence out of all proportion to their numbers. Homosexuals, for example, do not exceed 2% of the population, but you would think (from the news media) that there are at least as many homosexuals as blacks.