Seems true. Notably, if I have my cynical hat on (and I think I probably do?) it depended on having Paul say a bunch of things about it, and Paul had previously also established himself as a local “thinker celebrity”.
If I have my somewhat less cynical hat on, I do honestly think our status gradients do a decent job of tracking “person who is actually good at figuring things out”, such that “local thinker celebrity endorses a thing” is not just crazy, it’s a somewhat reasonable filtering mechanism. But I do think the effect is real.
Seems true. Notably, if I have my cynical hat on (and I think I probably do?) it depended on having Paul say a bunch of things about it, and Paul had previously also established himself as a local “thinker celebrity”.
If I have my somewhat less cynical hat on, I do honestly think our status gradients do a decent job of tracking “person who is actually good at figuring things out”, such that “local thinker celebrity endorses a thing” is not just crazy, it’s a somewhat reasonable filtering mechanism. But I do think the effect is real.