If everyone ties their ego/identity/career/intellect to upvotes then what is voted up the most is accepted as most valid, most correct, or best - even if the individual does not understand all of the language or background material mentioned.

This can create a causal feedback cycle that establishes general trends in technology, because it's rooted in self identity and the appearance of intelligence (doesn't have to actually be intelligence).

Correlation is not causation but correlation combined with a system that intertwines (belief, personal motives/self identity/self image, crowd validation) can cause correlation to become causal.