The most selectively believed-in verse in the conservative catechism is the idea that "incentives matter."

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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2026/03/24/degenerated-gambling/#oracle-capture

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@pluralistic

Recently re-read Soros’ short talk on reflexivity. This is where the participants changed the fundamentals.

He is a painfully clear writer and his remarks about how economies cannot be described with equations that treat its participants like they were subatomic particles. The participants create dynamics which have a lifetime, but you can’t model the system without discovering and representing them.

Prediction markets look like exactly what he was talking about