“It doesn’t pay to be informed about politics”

From a terrific review by Alex Tabarook of what seems a terrific book, Enlightenment 2.0 by Joseph Heath:

In a large electorate, no individual’s vote is likely to change the outcome of an election. As a result, it doesn’t pay to be informed about politics nor to think about politics in objective and rational terms. Consider an individual who spends time and effort to be informed about politics. What does this individual receive in return for their investment? The same thing as the uninformed individual. Since better information doesn’t lead to better consequences, it doesn’t pay an individual to be informed. But while ignorance is rational for the individual it’s irrational for society as a whole, which ends up being governed by ignoramuses.

This was also a strong point:

The problem with modern conservatism, however, is that “it has become a defense not of tradition against reason, but rather of intuition against reason.”

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