Matthew Yglesias

Beliefs Korrents

• Korrents What they believe 17 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.

  Each is a korrent — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.

  Recent

  • Most people who hold a widely-held political view are ignorant or intellectually sloppy about it

    The fact is that for basically any widely held political view, a huge share of the people who hold the view are going to be ignorant, intellectually sloppy, or otherwise badly flawed in their reasoning.

    Trying to convince people you’re right is underrated Said 18 Sept 2026

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  • Progressive political thinking has neglected the value of persuading others that one is right

    I think the big thing that has gone weirdly missing from a lot of progressive thinking about the political system is the concept of "persuade people that you are correct."

    Trying to convince people you’re right is underrated Said 18 Sept 2026

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  • Major historical events do not necessarily have deep intellectual or ideological causes; assuming so is a common fallacy.

    But I think this impulse to gild the lily and attribute the rise of Hitler to deep intellectual trends is an example of a pretty common fallacy of assuming that an incredibly important world event must have incredibly important roots.

    How to stop Hitler Said 17 Sept 2026

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  Show 14 more

  • Hitler's rise to power was mainly the product of contingent political and economic mistakes rather than deep ideological inevitability.

    The real story of Hitler's rise is mostly a history of contingency - bad choices by specific influential politicians first wrecked the German economy and then handed power to Hitler.

    How to stop Hitler Said 17 Sept 2026

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  • Promoting women's sports has always been a progressive cause, not one the right actually champions.

    Promoting women's sports is and always has been a progressive cause.

    Destroying women’s sports in order to save it Said 16 Sept 2026

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  • Large national investments in girls' athletic opportunities translate into better international sports results.

    America has made unusually large investments in athletic opportunities for girls and it pays off.

    Destroying women’s sports in order to save it Said 16 Sept 2026

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    America

  • In the Title IX debate, conservatives are the side seeking to shrink funding and opportunities for girls' sports.

    And the broader Title IX fight is a classic left/right political battle, where conservatives just want to shrink opportunities and funding for girls' sports.

    Destroying women’s sports in order to save it Said 16 Sept 2026

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  • Changing Israeli policy toward Palestinians requires imposing costs on mainstream, not just settler, Israelis.

    We need to do something that inflicts pain on nicer, more sympathetic Israelis in Tel Aviv and Haifa, something that makes them want to actually change course and meaningfully alter the situation.

    Sanctions on West Bank settlements aren’t enough Said 15 Sept 2026

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  • Netanyahu's governing coalition depends on parties that openly back anti-Palestinian violence.

    The current Netanyahu coalition is dependent on small parties that are overtly supportive of irregular anti-Palestinian violence.

    Sanctions on West Bank settlements aren’t enough Said 15 Sept 2026

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  • Only a safe, aligned superintelligence built within liberal democracies can entrench liberal-democratic values globally.

    Only a safe, well-aligned superintelligence developed in the world of liberal democracies could entrench liberal-democratic values.

    A simple plan to save the world from rogue A.I. Said 14 Sept 2026

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    AI alignment

  • Progressive politics has a failure mode of treating hard technical and coordination problems as purely political fights to win.

    I think a huge failure mode for progressive politics is looking at a difficult problem like climate change that can only be addressed through a mix of hard international coordination problems and hard technical problems, only to decide that it's really just a political question of beating the fossil fuel industry.

    A simple plan to save the world from rogue A.I. Said 14 Sept 2026

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  • There is now broad agreement within AI safety circles that fully open AI development is undesirable.

    I think it's now pretty widely agreed in safety circles that total openness is in fact not desirable.

    A simple plan to save the world from rogue A.I. Said 14 Sept 2026

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    AI alignment

  • 9/11 and Osama bin Laden's actions fundamentally shaped the world we live in today.

    It's on some levels obvious that we are all very much living in a world that Osama bin Laden made.

    We’re still underrating 9/11’s impact Said 11 Sept 2026

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  • The plan to hijack airplanes and destroy the World Trade Center was an eccentric, unlikely scheme rather than a natural or inevitable one.

    I think appreciation of the contingency starts with observing that the whole idea of hijacking airplanes in order to destroy the World Trade Center is eccentric.

    We’re still underrating 9/11’s impact Said 11 Sept 2026

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  • Post-9/11 American public sentiment was malleable enough that leaders could have directed it toward inward-looking demagoguery instead of foreign war.

    If Bush had wanted to whip people up into an inward-looking demagogic fervor instead of an external-facing one, he clearly could have accomplished that, too.

    We’re still underrating 9/11’s impact Said 11 Sept 2026

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    America

  • If AI investment pulled back, the capital and resources involved would shift to other productive uses rather than sit idle.

    Resources that are currently dedicated to A.I. would not otherwise sit idle.

    The economy could survive a downtick in A.I. Said 10 Sept 2026

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  • AI safety worriers and AI optimists both believe AI will be a hugely transformative economic success, unlike the AI-bubble skeptics.

    From an investment viewpoint, the opposite of the safetyist view is "it's all a bubble," not "A.I. is going to be really good."

    The economy could survive a downtick in A.I. Said 10 Sept 2026

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    AI alignment

  All 17 beliefs →