"They are not average and they are not normal" — Brian Klaas on power seekers. #shorts

less than 1m read

·Nov 3, 2024

Processing might take a few minutes. Refresh later.

The people who end up in power are not representative of the rest of us. They are not average, and they are not normal people. Those who are power hungry tend to self-select into positions of power more than the rest of us.

As a result, we have this skew, this bias in positions of power where certain types of people, often the wrong kinds of people, are more likely to put themselves forward to rule over the rest of us. That is one of the key challenges of modern life: we have to find ways to block them.

There's this absolute intersection between culture, behavior, individuals, and systems. When we have this simplistic view of power, we're missing the story.

What you really need is a system that attracts the right kind of people, so that the diplomats who are clean, nice, and rule-following end up in power. Then, you need a system that gives them all the right incentives to follow the rules once they get there.

If you do have people who break the rules, there needs to be consequences.

Proof: Parallel lines divide triangle sides proportionally | Similarity | Geometry | Khan Academy

Warren Buffett: Stop Listening to Economic Predictions

View All

When Watersports Become Dangerous | Science of Stupid: Ridiculous Fails

Some things just don’t go together– oil and water, gas and matches, tequila and fireworks. So you can imagine my concern when I heard about a combination of kayaking and surfing. Then I saw this and thought perhaps I’m worrying about nothing. And then I …

Writing expressions with parentheses | 6th grade | Khan Academy

We have two different statements written in English that I would like you to pause this video and try to write as an algebraic expression. All right, now let’s work on this first one. So you might be tempted to say, “All right, I have five, so let me jus…

Introduction to car buying | Car buying | Financial Literacy | Khan Academy

So, you’re looking to buy a car. So, I’ll at least tell you how I would approach buying a car. The first thing is thinking about what you can afford, and I would think about that before you even look at the types of cars you might want to buy. Because it …

Why you must stay positive

You feel down or let down by other people. Things fall apart, but you really can’t let your outer self show that stuff. You have to be able to sort of just rub it off, brush it off your shoulder, man. Move on, because you can’t let negative energy be spre…