Why Smart People Believe Obvious Nonsense
Why do intelligent people believe things that seem obviously false?
dovbaron.com/why-smart-peoplโฆ
This article explores how emotional meaning shapes perception, identity, belonging, and certaintyโand why people often defend meaning before they defend facts.
Read On:
๐ ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ถ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ผ ๐๐ผ๐น๐๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ป๐ด ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ๐บ.
They worry about visibility. Reach. Engagement. Algorithms. Competition.
And then they try to solve those worries by publishing more.
thread
Not even 1,000 likes on a post can solve an infrastructure problem.
A like is not an idea.
A like is not a worldview.
A like does not show how one concept relates to another.
Most senior leaders are still trying to solve the wrong problem.
#AuthorityInfrastructure
Without authority signals embedded throughout a body of work, machine systems can extract ideas, recombine them, and redistribute them without attribution.
Detached from their origin.
Detached from the person who spent decades developing those ideas.
Machine systems do not see effort.
They do not see intention or expertise.
Machine systems only see the signals inside the written piece in front of them.
Those signals are Authority Infrastructure.
The larger a body of work becomes, the more important those signals become.
Senior leaders are deeply invested in volume because they love the engagement model.
So, they forget that machine systems now sit upstream of platform algorithms and what people may eventually encounter.
The assumption is simple:
More content creates more authority.
But what if the opposite is true?
What if every new piece that's not clearly connected to the rest of a body of work makes authority recognition more difficult rather than easier?
๐'๐๐ฒ ๐ป๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด.
People hesitate when the question troubling them doesn't feel important enough.
They assume someone else's question is bigger. More sophisticated. Worthier of attention.
But after years of working with leaders, entrepreneurs, founders, and people carrying enormous responsibility, I've found something surprising.
The questions that change a life are rarely the impressive ones.
They're usually the persistent ones.
The question you keep returning to.
The conversation you keep having with yourself.
The thing that appears solved until it shows up again.
And again.
And again.
Friday is the first Ask Dov Live.
If you've been sitting with a question and wondering whether it's worth bringing, this is your reminder:
It doesn't need to be polished.
It doesn't need to be profound.
It only needs to matter to you.
Ask Dov Live
Date: Friday, June 12, 2026
Time: 8:00 AM โ 8:30 AM PST
Register here: lnkd.in/gYBR6e_q
P.S. You can send your question ahead of time to dov@dovbaron.com
#DovBaron#DovLive#MeaningArchitecture
How Minds Get Programmed | Cheering Against Yourself #dovbaronyoutu.be/RF_WWS52KhMsi=1zsQNโฆ
A small number of very wealthy men have spent 40 years rewriting the meaning beneath the words ordinary people use to describe our lives.
Why? So that ordinary people would eventually cheer for their own servitude.
๐ช๐ต๐ ๐ ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ณ๐๐๐ฒ "๐ญ,๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐ถ๐ธ๐ฒ๐" ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐๐๐ต๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ด๐ป๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ข๐ป๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ.
A senior expert posts something. Likes and comments pour in. Why should they worry about authority recognition?
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What if fear isn't holding you back, but your resistance to feeling it is?
If you're a driven entrepreneur chasing bigger goals, this one may change how you lead, perform, and grow.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcasโฆ
Why Ultra-High Performers Love Fear, and Why You Need To | Kristen Ulme on The Dov Baron Show.
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@thedovbaron
Here's an irony that will likely be lost on most senior leaders:
The bigger your body of work becomes, the more you publish without the infrastructure that machine systems need to recognize your authority, the more you are contributing to your own authority erosion.
Between what you publish and platform algorithms stand machine systems. Machine systems influence platforms and what people may eventually see. Senior leaders keep optimizing at the bottom (for people) while ignoring machine systems at the top. That's why they're so exhausted.
Most people still think vanity metrics are what lead to authority recognition in 2026. They do not seem to grasp how AI indexing, AI Mode, and LLMs work.
Who Would You Be Without Your Worst Habit?
Read More: dovbaron.com/who-would-you-bโฆ
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