social paradox

Hey, hey, hey, I’m back. And trying to write every day because I have a contract with myself to create something beautiful every day and this is, at least, a start.

So today… this amazing lists of social paradoxes from David Pinsoff via Steven Pinker on Armchair Expert (another great one.)

So fun to go through and laugh at our silly little human brains.

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1. We try to gain status by not caring about status.

2. We rebel against conformity in the exact same way as everyone else.

3. We show humility to prove we’re better than other people.

4. We don’t care what people think, and we want them to think this.

5. We donate to charity anonymously, to get credit for not caring about getting credit.

6. We bravely defy social norms so that people will praise us.

7. We avoid being manipulative to get people to do what we want them to do.

8. We compete to be less competitive than our rivals.

9. We help those in need, regardless of self-interest, because being seen as the type of person who helps those in need, regardless of self-interest, is in our self-interest.

10. We make subversive art that only high-status people appreciate.

11. We make fun of ourselves for being uncool to prove we’re cool.

12. We self-righteously defend false beliefs to prove we care more about the truth than virtue-signaling.

13. We help our friends without expecting anything in return, because we know they would do the same for us.

14. We show everyone our true, authentic self—not who society wants us to be—because that is who society wants us to be.