“Why is it that with nothing but improvement behind us we expect nothing but deterioration before us”
The larger the unit the more pessimistic people are. The information for our own lives comes from our experience while our information on the planet comes from the media.
168,000 people are being lifted out of extreme poverty everyday.
We have a bias towards negative information. We don’t have to prepare for the best but we have to prepare for the worst.
The bad side of us is just as innate as the good side of us. There is a narrative that our animal self is bad and we have to override it.
Reciprocity is innate in humans. It’s mutually beneficial. Being kind is a favorable strategy for survival.
There is a different ethic that emerges from iterated games vs single games. You have to consider reputation.
You engage in reciprocity with yourself over time. Future you is a different entity than present you.
Morality is the shadow of the future. It is a calculation by us as to what works in the society we’re in. We don’t want to steal from the bread shop because then we can go there tomorrow.
Morality evolves over time. We don’t challenge people to duels anymore.
We have an instinct for morality but must still be taught. Humans have an instinct for language but babies aren’t born speaking Hebrew.
The morality that maximizes the number of games you’re invited to play must trump the morality that drives you to win a single game.
The hero in most stories is highly reciprocal.
Trade is far older than agriculture.
You can’t store the entire mammoth you just caught but you can store it in the form of your reputation as a generous hunter so you share the mammoth and accrue wealth in a currency that won’t spoil.
No book is the same for any two readers. It’s the interaction of the knowledge in the book and the knowledge and experiences in the person.
If two people are trading they tend to be nicer. They’re worth more to eachother alive than dead.
The Malthusian trap: if you give people more food they’ll just have more babies and end up just as poor and just as hungry