Little skin in the game for our beliefs

I was just reading an article about crony beliefs, by Kevin Simler on Melting Asphalt. The article introduces us to the topic of beliefs that are not factually correct. But hold social value. The idea builds upon the work of Jonathan Haidt. With the righteous mind. Where In the righteous mind Jonathan introduces the idea that we hold beliefs of social reputation not mapping reality.  For explaining beliefs Kevin uses that analogy of an employee and a company. A belief are employees. And the company is use. For a normal company is the employee does not perform well. Then the employee will have to be let go. A belief performing well is having it closer to reality. To help us success in an area we choose. Kevin says that acts as the bottom line.

But then Kevin adds a twist to the analogy. By pretending that a company will need to hire some people not based on their qualifications or skill. But for political gains. In this pretend company some people need to get hire to appease city hall so they can get new contracts. And if you zoom closer to the employee’s working there you noticed. That some of the employees are not pulling their weight but not getting fired. This because they special hires. Namely friends and family. A more formal word for this is cronyism.

The first example with the normal company and people being hired for skill. Is a meritocracy. Where people fall or rise based on their performance. The second example is the opposite where it is little correlation between performance and movement within the company. Cronyism.

Using the analogy Kevin goes on to explain for practical examples on how that can affect people day to day.

Kevin quotes Steven pinker:

People are embraced or condemned according to their beliefs, so one function of the mind may be to hold beliefs that bring the belief-holder the greatest number of allies, protectors, or disciples, rather than beliefs that are most likely to be true.

It reminds me again of the righteous mind by Jonathan Haidt. Because that in the book Jonathan explained that are brain is working to helps us in many ways. Using old caveman software. But trying to find the truth is not high up the priority list. Especially if it decreases your social standing. Find the truth is not always good for survival. Therefore, in areas like religion and politics. Trying to find the truth or prompting reason is not advertised. As those areas mainly arose out of the use for human to collaborate in groups. And a person trying to destroy that harmony is not good for the tribe. Kevin adds: “When we say politics is the mind-killer, it's because these social rewards completely dominate the pragmatic rewards, and thus we have almost no incentive to get at the truth.”

Which makes sense for the reason above. If your religion helps your tribe through a serious drought. People in the tribe are less likely to question it. As it helped the tribe service. So, beliefs need to be useful first before we start talking about the truth. Not the other way round.

Kevin says:

If you've ever wanted to believe something, ask yourself where that desire comes from. Hint: it's not the desire simply to believe what's true.

Like from the book elephant in the brain. Written by Kevin as well. Explores this area in large detail. Where the brain can lie to ourselves. For more social clout. For example, A YouTuber might say that he or she is doing this to help people and to entertain them. But a more selfish reason. Is to collect more fame and money. The first answer provides people a positive message. Boosting the person social reputation. While the second reason may be more honest as it deals with are base instincts. But likely does not increase are social reputation. So are brain puts in the back of are mind.

In article Kevin example that agendas that can help us keep a corny belief.

One example he gives is Cheerleading:

Cheerleading. Here the idea is to believe what you want other people to believe — in other words, believing your own propaganda, drinking your own Kool-Aid. Over-the-top self-confidence, for example, seems dangerous as a private merit belief, but makes perfect sense as a crony belief, if expressing it inspires others to have confidence in you.

I like this example. As you see it all lot in technology start up space. Where you have founders, with extreme sense confidence in their product. With little evidence backing it up. But if you dig a little bit deeper you learn that it’s necessary for company to succeed. But the founder needs a belief in one’s company to attract employees and investors. No one wants to work for a company that’s people think its going to fail. Nor do investors want to invest in a company that does not give a chance of succeeding. But sometimes this can go awry. As founders drink the Kool-Aid too much without giving back real results.

Wework was a famous start-up with the goal of producing co-working spaces. The founder was charismatic and that help him promote the company and was able to get investing from the biggest technology fund (The Vision Fund). But the company later imploded when it tried to get the company public, but analysts noticed that they were losing a crap ton of money without a chance of turning a profit. It all fell like a house of cards. As other investors left. And stories started to come out about the founder doing odd things. Like walking barefoot around the office. And screaming at employees when his favourite tequila was not in the office.

Another example was a biotech company called Theranos. Which claimed that with a single blood drop it can spot all manner of diseases. But later to found out it was not true. But the founder was charismatic and was able to secure funding in the billions. The large claims lead to great marketing for the company. As Elizabeth Homes (The Founder) got featured on the covers of time Forbes and Fortune. But as people later found out that the produce did not do as it was promised. To be honest this company is fascinating story of the lies and deception that she did. But luckily some person already wrote a book about that. Called bad blood. And should be turned into a movie relatively soon. They are very interesting videos detailing this story. Check this video which interviews the author of the book and this video which a documentary about the whole ordeal.