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Vahe Oughourlian's avatar

“ The sampling error in question is that of public comment, which is measurably unrepresentative of the demographics and views of the area. "The method by which local governments solicit public input on housing policy could charitably be described as a 'convenience sample'." Which is a term I had not heard before. Also, the pictured meme from Parks and Rec is an excellent example of local politics public comments.”

Indeed, public comment has not made sense to me for a long time, other than maintaining a tradition that once made sense when the community could fit into the local church. It seems like a problem stemming from our inability to scale socially past Dunbar’s Number in a meaningful way, using really poor heuristics instead. I have to constantly remind myself and others that discourse on the Internet is always a limited selection of people and should not reflect one’s sense of reality. That said, one can take advantage of this situation…

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