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I am reading #[0] s book Principles of Economics right now. And I have a thought that seems to contradict the view of Austrian Economics. I don’t know what to make of it and I would be glad if someone could confirm or negate my thought. I'm open to discussion.

So, the Austrian school is based on the premise that individuals "act" and therefore it is impossible to put whole economies into equations. And obviously there is some truth in that.

BUT we know since Sigmund Freud that masses do NOT act as individuals when their primitive senses are triggered. That's why propaganda works. It worked in the Third Reich and it worked 3 years ago. We saw it first hand. So there is also clearly something that could measured.

Can you see my dilemma?

Turtlesallthewaydown⚡️ 2y ago

Ok I’m going to give this a shot:

1st premise: our subconscious mind is 1million times more powerful than our conscious mind

2nd premise: we didn’t program our subconscious mind (unless we’ve done a LOT of meditation/hypnosis work later in life), our early caregivers or our framing limited inner child created our subconscious playlist

3rd premise: fear shuts down all conscious thought and all but physically essential subconscious programs

4th premise: Humans are herd animals

Ok so this is how I see it:

Most of us are sheeple and when we feel safe we are capable of conscious thought and action. The moment we see a wolf we will herd and if the herd zigs we zig, if the herd zags, we zag. Covid behaviour is a great example. Our ability to think is biologically impaired as part of our natural fear response.

Some of us have seen and survived REAL life or death situations and have grown stronger from this experience, we’ve learned to manage and/or mitigate our fear response appropriately to the perceived threat based on real evidence of the threat, we’ve learnt to look beyond the propaganda. We are the Triceratops. We see a wolf and shrug. Our ability to think clearly, stays intact during a crisis.

Some of us are wolves, we intentionally manipulate the sheeple for a free lunch. However wolves are also pack animals… and when a pack of wolves comes into conflict with a family of Triceratops, I wouldn’t want to be a wolf. This is where we are now.

Back to your original query, I agree the Austrians explain behaviour of the sheeple in ‘safe’ times and the triceratops all of the time.

But under the influence of fear sheeple’s behaviour is more predictable… they are not capable of rational thought and action under these conditions, only herd mentality/action.

The other issue is the sheeple and triceratops are potentially interchangeable depending upon the situational stimuli and this comes down to an individual’s level of self efficacy in the prescribed situation. Covid was far less likely to trigger fear in a healthy person who felt self efficacy around their health than any other person either sick or healthy.

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