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Comment by paulsutter | Hacker News Reader

Like the stop sign bubble. Those stop signs dont actually stop cars, they just work because of the contagious narrative

This is so deep I can't tell if you're joking or not.

There are rural towns that have a completely different concept for a stop sign... backed by a lack of enforcement from officers.

It's actually a secret reference to the buddhist idea of "conventional reality", things that exist only by convention or agreement among people: political office, property ownership, money, diplomas, marriage, borders, ... most of modern life

Schelling point is another name for this.

Not quite as it is a more specific term - a Schelling point is a social construct but not all social constructs are Schelling points.

In particular a Schelling point is a default chosen without communicating it in the first place. None of the above examples count.

Don’t try to stop completely at each stop sign, that’s impossible.

Instead, only try to realize the truth... there are no stop signs.

Unless you're a cyclist (Idaho Stops are good!) you should always make a full and complete stop at a stop sign.

You're going to kill a pedestrian one of these days.

Don’t try to avoid pedestrians, that’s impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth... there are no pedestrians.

I actually HATE crypto discussions on HN, and clicked on this link before thinking -- and wow this is a great comment. It is very deep! I'm very glad I clicked. Well done.

Come to Florida where all road signs are merely suggestions /s. However, this is the strongest argument I've seen for why money is money, crypto is crypto, stop signs stop cars, and "DO NOT CROSS" keeps people out.

Traffic Control Protocol is known to be a best-effort.

well, there's also the force of law behind stop signs.

Anecdote: I’ve seen a dozen people roll through stop signs today.

Anecdote: I saw someone this morning get pulled over for rolling through a stop sign.

Synthesis: The force of the law may not be homogeneously distributed.

A contagious narrative backed by guns indicates weakness of narrative

To the contrary: It must be a pretty strong narrative if it convinces people to commit violence.

Well first of all, I would argue the force of law is a social contract, not a contagious narrative.

My second point to make here would be if vehicle drivers stopped following road signs, they would be likely to harm other drivers and bystanders. We have stop signs for a pretty good reason.

And money.

In high school my friend's dad used to tell new drivers that the stop signs with the white borders around them were optional.

Small difference: neither currency nor stops sign have speculation as rhe primary usage.

Your point may be true, but it's not a rebuttal to the parent's assertion that "contagious narratives" are a normal part of many generally accepted systems. It's like you're throwing in random information.

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