I once knew a guy who was an actual rocket scientist. He was also a socialist. You can’t be a moron and be a rocket scientist, but, if you’re so smart, how can you also be a socialist?

I think the answer is that the science involved in rocketry has no cultural component and is, therefore, not subject to tribalist pressures. However, socialism has a strong cultural component and that makes those with strong tribal instincts unable to reason through it. They’re blinded on that subject by their instinct. This is why smart people can hold dumb ideas; they’re only affected in areas where the perceived opinions of elites trigger their tribalist instinct. If their instinct is strong enough (and that’s a whole lot of people), they will not be able to resist holding the elite opinions, no matter how dubious those opinions are, while, at the same time, they may be geniuses in other areas.

I’ve mentioned in other posts that this line of reasoning is based on the Leskovar Insight and extrapolating from it. The Leskovar Insight is basically this:

1. Humans evolved as a social animal, living with other humans in small groups of hunter/gatherers, called tribes.
2. Those who were best able to fit in with the rest of the tribe were better able to survive. Those who were rejected by the tribe more often died on their own. That selective pressure created a genetically encoded instinct in all of us to want to fit in.
3. The best way to fit in is to be approved of by the tribal leaders. Those who did that best, tended to survive; those who did that worst tended to die. That selective pressure created a genetically encoded instinct to adopt the opinions and ideas of the elite as a means to fit in.
4. That genetically encoded survival instinct is alive and well today and in some people that instinct is so strong that they can’t overcome it.

That last list item was mine. I believe that people with a strong enough tribal survival instinct not only can’t overcome it with reason, but they will never become aware of it and can’t internalize the points I’m making about it right now – no matter how smart they are.