Thanks Massimo for a very clear exposition of the “human reasoning” problem. I’m hoping that in a few hundred years, after the malign consequences of “naive” representative democracy have convinced at least some people of the need to factor in real-world human limitations and modes of cognition, we can move past the faux conception of rational animal and accept the reality of rationalizing animal. And then engineer suitable mitigations. Because today populism shows clearly our incapacity in the former, and how easy it is to be the latter.

I’d also like to see research on the comparative effect of complexity versus simplicity in the adoption of beliefs. In my experience the more simple a concept is, the greater its adoption across all types of people. As we’re hardwired to avoid thinking whenever possible (in order to conserve precious calories that were historically very scarce throughout most of our evolutionary history), this fundamental factor results in a great many unfortunate social consequences. It’s very difficult to convey complex ideas in simple blocks, but it would appear to be absolutely essential if we’re to avoid merely having our clever technologies dramatically amplify our inherent simple-mindedness and folly.