[cf141q5325]

Determining who to trust with this (on what topics) seems to be an incredibly hard problem with no obvious solution. And unfortunately a lot of people either seem to delegate to those that make nice sounding promises or ignore the issues all together. Even the statement you just made could always turn out to be a "noble lie" aimed preserving personal sanity at horrible cost for others. After all, having psychological support, or being able to deal with this, says nothing about what kind of solution they would produce. In all likelihood those people to delegate to will turn out to be in large parts depressed, detached or psychopaths. So i dont see a way around verification.

Having agency in a society ( through democracy, markets, shaping narratives in discussions and many other ways) might just require adults who deal with the horrible aspects society produces in a responsible manner. Which includes not designing solutions for a false peace of mind. After all, you yourself (as in every individual) are the one responsible for the consequences you produce.

Personally i hope this might be a matter of outer alignment, as in a problem of not agreeing on shared goals that you can apply to problem solving in a coordinated manner. Which has to include the ability to verify process and outcome (which unfortunately in itself are highly safety critical) and the unwillingness to accept false but pleasant conclusions with high costs for others.