Apparently there’s been a bout of despair among those of a Libertarian persuasion. I somehow missed it, but I did catch this rather nice rebuttal. Well, maybe it’s not so much a rebuttal as a caution about sloppy thinking, and it is applicable to everyone, regardless of their politics.
Ilya Somin’s first point is about the “all or nothing” meme, which is a close relative of “the perfect is the enemy of the good”. There’s not much I can add to his words.
Somin’s second point is about the “availability heuristic”, and that simply doesn’t get enough recognition in this world. Our tendency to overweight recent events shows up every day in pundit land and the letters to editor. It even shows up in the stock market.
We have several other nasty heuristics where our brains have evolved to have faulty processing. These heuristics can be overcome with effort and discipline, but it’s not easy. Thinking clearly is not a widespread practice - using our faulty heuristics is!
