[jmogly]

I think dismissing social realities as not being part of that hard, unyielding reality is a mistake. Part of intelligence (maybe a different part) is being able to bend the social fabric to achieve desirable outcomes. The other thing is you don’t always know why people do what they do, the world is a very subjective place. The people at work who don’t call things out, they might just be collecting a paycheck and are happy to not call things out. The poor conservative from Florida, they might actually hate immigrants more than they care about quality healthcare.

[wslh]

My two cents: what you describe mainly applies on the micro level: advancement within peer groups. But if you step back and look at the macro level, accounting for biases, you can sometimes make giant leaps.

[jiggawatts]

> I think dismissing social realities as not being part of that hard, unyielding reality is a mistake.

One of the realities is more unyielding than the other.

Pi can’t be redefined to be exactly 3 no matter how socially important the legislator is.

[pfisherman]

> One of the realities is more unyielding than the other.

Also ten or one hundred (people) is more than one.

That math can’t be reasoned out of existence either.