Book one of Plato&#x27;s Republic led to my lightbulb moment: witness Socrates&#x27;s lilt of annoyance at Thrasymachus&#x27;s behavior, which is not too far from what is being described here. People have not changed fundamentally in the last 2,500 years.<p>Reading that amused me to no end. Plato is how I was able to make peace with the legions of Internet message-board nerds. (And observe in myself the traits of a troll, at times.)<p>&gt; <i>no one is ever a troll involuntarily or by accident, but only an idiot who has posted in the wrong thread.</i><p>Then again -- was Thrasymachus just &quot;posting in the wrong thread?&quot;<p>The second lightbulb moment was reading some of Antonin Scalia&#x27;s judicial opinions. My approximate train of thought: &quot;Whait, am I actually reading this? This is like something I&#x27;d downvote on Hacker News. Well, justices are temperamental and opinionated people too, just like the rest of us...&quot; RIP.