The Times Square problem is my way of talking about the problem of luridity. Imagine assuming that all of New York is like Times Square, because that’s the flashiest part of it. That would be a grave error. And yet people make this sort of error all the time in all sorts of other domains. They might assume that all of YouTube is like MrBeast. Or all men are like this, or all women are like that. “All influencers have OnlyFans”.

A tricky thing about the Times Square problem is that, we all participate in it to varying degrees, but we seldom believe that we are, because from our point of view it just feels like we’re perceiving things accurately. But we’re always drawn to luridity. We always underestimate the dull mass of neutral-to-good. The most ordinary things don’t go viral, like billions of people going about their days, being polite to each other, having dinner uneventfully, etc.