Read on Twitter
1/ Signaling is a blackpill because once you have this filter installed, your understanding of human motivations, your own motivations even, is forever changed.
2/ An overwhelming amount of human action is primarily done for signaling purposes.
Most actions not tied directly to the bottom of Maslow’s pyramid are most likely signaling.
Most actions not tied directly to the bottom of Maslow’s pyramid are most likely signaling.
3/ Why? Humans are a highly social species and we need other people to survive.
People are constantly judging each other consciously & (mostly) unconsciously to see who makes for a good partner, friend, lover, etc.
We signal to manage our standing in these hierarchies.
People are constantly judging each other consciously & (mostly) unconsciously to see who makes for a good partner, friend, lover, etc.
We signal to manage our standing in these hierarchies.
4/ What do we signal about?
Everything: our physical prowess, competence, raw intelligence, friendliness, kindness, empathy, etc.
We downplay our “ugly” motives and play up our “noble” ones.
Everything: our physical prowess, competence, raw intelligence, friendliness, kindness, empathy, etc.
We downplay our “ugly” motives and play up our “noble” ones.
5/ This happens semi-consciously in some instances, like a job interview, and mostly unconsciously in most interactions with humans.
6/ A few examples:
Sports:
People like playing sports if they are good at them. If they aren’t good (anymore) at playing the sport, they will become encyclopedic repositories of knowledge about said sport.
Sports act as a dominance/fitness/competence display.
Sports:
People like playing sports if they are good at them. If they aren’t good (anymore) at playing the sport, they will become encyclopedic repositories of knowledge about said sport.
Sports act as a dominance/fitness/competence display.
7/ Humor:
Making other people laugh through language games requires fast cognition and high intelligence. It’s also cultivated through long years of back and forth between competing players.
It’s a costly display of raw intelligence.
Making other people laugh through language games requires fast cognition and high intelligence. It’s also cultivated through long years of back and forth between competing players.
It’s a costly display of raw intelligence.
8/ Proof that humor is social in nature is that laughter itself is a social signal - people laugh up to 30 times less alone than with company.
9/ Ecology:
If you’ve ever wondered why people would rather be very vocal on recycling (that ends up in a landfill most of the time nowadays) than care about nuclear power and carbon capture, seek no more.
Much of ecology is signaling - empathy & Gaia worship to be exact.
If you’ve ever wondered why people would rather be very vocal on recycling (that ends up in a landfill most of the time nowadays) than care about nuclear power and carbon capture, seek no more.
Much of ecology is signaling - empathy & Gaia worship to be exact.
10/ Twitter:
Twitter is intelligence signaling. It’s a status maximizer for people with high verbal IQ.
I don’t think I need to elaborate much on this, we know who we are.
Twitter is intelligence signaling. It’s a status maximizer for people with high verbal IQ.
I don’t think I need to elaborate much on this, we know who we are.
11/ To get the signaling frame do a thought experiment. Imagine yourself as an alien on this planet trying to understand our species.
The things you find weird about our behavior can usually be better explained by signaling than by most other human rationalizations.
The things you find weird about our behavior can usually be better explained by signaling than by most other human rationalizations.
12/ It’s a blackpill because we remain largely unconscious about our real motivations.
And though the darker motivations of our enemies seem obvious, they and their acolytes are by definition blind to them, and vice versa.
And though the darker motivations of our enemies seem obvious, they and their acolytes are by definition blind to them, and vice versa.
13/ @robinhanson has done the most and most interesting work in popularizing this field and I highly recommend his book “The Elephant in the Brain” for more insights into signaling theory.
