zlacker

I don’t know if these people are really “outliers”. Many thought that an extreme outlier would not “win” the 2016 election, but it turned out there were 62 million who supported and loved his extreme outlierism.

>>winter+(OP)
I'd say this shows how much of an effect 'outliers' can have. I'm not generally a proponent of the 'great man/woman' perspective on history, but I do think that the 'right' outlier at the 'right' time can have a huge effect simply because a large number of people can be affected significantly if they're compatible with this outlier, whether this outlier is out to run a cult/new religion, conquer the world, maintain some paradigm in whatever field they're kings of, and so on.

I think this is less because most of us are 'sheeple' and more to do with how we have some (huge) low-level bugs that can be exploited in particular configurations. We care, but our heuristics can steer us wrong. Marketing/PR/propaganda as a way to exploit these things, and the scientific study of these things really kind of scare the crap out of me when it comes to my hope for the future of humanity.

>>winter+(OP)
Or rather 62 million preferred him enough to the alternative to vote for him in the national election. Among that 62 million were probably very many genuine supporters, but I think that a lot of them chose to read what they wanted into his rhetoric. So it's a bit more nuanced than that.

On the other hand part of the reason he seemed like such an outlier might be because the consensus he seemed to deviate from was itself driven by outliers.