Kevin Simler - The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR THE ELEPHANT IN THE BRAIN

In this ingenious and persuasive book, Simler and Hanson mischievously reveal that much of our behavior is for social consumption: we make decisions that make us look good, rather than good decisions.

Hugo Mercier, Research Scientist, French Institute for Cognitive Sciences

A thoughtful examination of the human condition.

David Biello, Science Curator at TED; author of The Unnatural World

Simler and Hanson have done it againa big new idea, well told.

Gregory Benford, Professor of Physics, University of California, Irvine; two-time Nebula Award Winner; author of The Berlin Project

Deeply important, wide-ranging, beautifully written, and fundamentally right.

Bryan Caplan, Professor of Economics, George Mason University; author of The Case Against Education

This is the most unconventional and uncomfortable self-help book you will ever read. But probably also the most important.

Andrew McAfee, Principal Research Scientist at MIT; coauthor of Machine | Platform | Crowd

Thorough, insightful, fun to read, with the slight negative that everything is now ruined forever.

Zach Weinersmith, author of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

This book will change how you see the world.

Allan Dafoe, Professor of Political Science, Yale University

A captivating book about the things your brain does not want you to know.

Jaan Tallinn, Founder of Skype, Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, and Future of Life Institute

Its hard to overstate how impactful this book is.

Tucker Max, author of I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell

An eye-opening look at how we deceive ourselves in order to deceive others.

Ramez Naam, author of Nexus

A provocative and compellingly readable account of how and why we lie to our rivals, our friends, and ourselves.

Steven Landsburg, Professor of Economics, University of Rochester

Simler and Hanson reveal whats beneath our wise veneera maelstrom of bias and rationalization that we all mustfor survivals sakehelp each other overcome.

David Brin, two-time Hugo Award Winner; author of Existence

A thoughtful and provocative book.

Andrew Gelman, Professor of Statistics, Columbia University

Simler and Hanson uncover the hidden and darker forces that shape much of what we say and do.

William MacAskill, Professor of Philosophy, Oxford University; author of Doing Good Better

There are only a few people alive today worth listening to. Robin Hanson is one of them.

Ralph Merkle, co-inventor of public key cryptography

Brilliantly written and entertaining on every page.

Alex Tabarrok, author of Modern Principles of Economics

A disturbing and important book.

Arnold Kling, author of The Three Languages of Politics

KEVIN SIMLER AND ROBIN HANSON

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the Universitys objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University

Press in the UK and certain other countries.

Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press

198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America.

Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson 2018

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above.

You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Simler, Kevin, 1982 author. | Hanson, Robin, 1959 author.
Title: The elephant in the brain : hidden motives in everyday life / Kevin
Simler, Robin Hanson.
Description: 1 Edition. | New York : Oxford University Press, 2018.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017004296| ISBN 9780190495992 (hardback) |
ISBN 9780190496012 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Self-deception. | Subconsciousness. | Cognitive psychology. |
BISAC: PSYCHOLOGY / Cognitive Psychology.
Classification: LCC BF697.5.S426 S56 2017 | DDC 153.8dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017004296

For Lee Corbin,
who kindled my intellectual life

and taught me how to think.

Kevin

To the little guys, often grumbling in a corner,

whove said this sort of thing for ages: you were

right more than you knew.

Robin

Although Robin has blogged on related topics for over a decade, the book in your handsor on your screenwould not have happened but for Kevins initiative. In 2013, Kevin considered taking his second stab at a PhD, but instead approached Robin with a suggestion that they forego the academic formalities and simply talk and work together, informally, as student and advisor. This is the fruit of our collaboration: a doctoral thesis of sorts. And we suppose that makes you, dear reader, one of our thesis committee.

Unlike a conventional dissertation, however, this work makes less of a claim to originality. Our basic thesisthat we are strategically blind to key aspects of our motiveshas been around in some form or another for millennia. Its been put forward not only by poets, playwrights, and philosophers, but also by countless wise old souls, at least when you catch them in private and in the right sort of mood. And yet the thesis still seems to us neglected in scholarly writings; you can read a mountain of books and still miss it. For Robin, its the view he would have been most eager to hear early in his research career, to help him avoid blind alleys. So we hope future scholars can now find at least one book in their library that clearly articulates the thesis.

As we put our final touches on this book, we find that our thoughts are now mostly elsewhere. This is, in part, because other tasks and projects clamor for our attention, but also because its just really hard to look long and intently at our selfish motives, at what weve called the elephant in the brain. Even we, the authors of a book on the subject, are relieved for the chance to look away, to let our minds wander to safer, more comfortable topics.

Were quite curious to see how the world reacts to our book. Early reviews were almost unanimously positive, and we expect the typical reader to accept roughly two-thirds of our claims about human motives and institutions. Yet, we find it hard to imagine the books central thesis becoming widely accepted among any large population, even of scholars. As better minds than ours have long advanced similar ideas, but to little apparent effect, we suspect that human minds and cultures must contain sufficient antibodies to keep such concepts at bay.

Of course, no work like this comes together without a community of support. Were grateful for the advice, feedback, and encouragement of a wide network of colleagues, friends, and family: