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The elephant in the brain

Kevin Simler, Robin Hanson

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28820444-the-elephant-in-the-brain

Key points

  1. Humans are designed to be selfish: Selfishness has evolved through the years to protect us from the environment. Our subconscious hides us the true motivations of our actions in order to not feel terrible all the time and so change our actions. self-deception Our brain pushes us toward the things we want.
  2. We deceive ourselves to protect from the world: We want to look good in other judgements, so we automatically hide our bad features. Deception is a result of a competitive evolution. eg: ignoring an injury to play more
  3. Check the how-to-read-body-language:
  4. Advertising deceives you
  5. Religion and culture influence you
  6. Identify your true motives to make positive changes

https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/aqko2h/the_elephant_in_the_brain_discussion_questions/ - Private, anonymous and costless behaviours are poor signals.


See elephant-in-the-brain-vs-good-inside