The Elephant in the Brain
- Most of our everyday actions can be traced back to some form of signaling or status seeking
- Our brains deliberately hide this fact from us and others (self deception)
So we think and say that we do something for a specific reason, but in reality, there's a hidden, selfish motive: to show off and increase our social status.
Status Signaling / Social Signaling / Signalling
Signaling explains most of our everyday actions: what clothes we wear, which universities we pick and which religion we subscribe to. Everything has a hidden signaling component with which we communicate our desired tribal affiliation.
Components of Signaling
- Signal Message
- Signal Distribution
- Signal Amplification
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/radically-open/201707/social-signaling
https://julian.digital/2020/03/28/signaling-as-a-service/
https://julianlehr.substack.com/p/banking-on-status
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signalling_(economics)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signalling_theory
Virtue Signaling
Trying to show others how good you are.
the public expression of opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one's good character or social conscience or the moral correctness of one's position on a particular issue.
Examples
- Introduced the paper straws just so that they could show to the public that they were doing something.
- Often, many of those who virtue signal do it without actually practicing what they preach.
- So many famous people ask their fans and followers to do whatever it takes to pollute the environment a little less - like using public transport. And then you learn about how they use private planes to go everywhere.
- The world of finance has a lot of these - virtue signallers.
- Countless very rich people have asked others not to worry about money at all; to follow their passion; that money doesn’t buy happiness.
- Yet they still continue to work and grow their wealth every year.
- There are studies to show that money does buy happiness till a certain limit. Nobody likes to be hungry.
- Those asking people to follow their passion forget or ignore that not every passion pays.
- If you’re passionate about computers or surgery, it’ll pay.
- Other passions like singing and sports don’t pay well for most people.
- Celebrities who ask others to giant risks with careers or money while sitting on safety nets often forget what it actually feels like to risk it all.
- Virtue signaling is a dirty practice that has existed throughout human history.
- But in our modern internet age, virtue signaling has been boosted more than ever before.