Book Reviews
The Elephant in the Brain Summary and Review
★★★★☆ 4.3/5 — A sharp, uncomfortable case that self-deception is strategic, and that many of our most familiar institutions run on hidden…
Read Summary →Kevin Simler & Robin Hanson
"The blogger and the economist who argue we're strategically blind to our own selfish motives."
Kevin Simler is a writer and software engineer known for his blog Melting Asphalt, which explores human behavior through the lens of evolutionary psychology and hidden incentives. Robin Hanson is an economist and professor at George Mason University, known for his research on prediction markets, medical economics, and what he calls "the elephant in the brain" — self-interested motives people are reluctant to acknowledge even to themselves. Together they co-authored The Elephant in the Brain, published in 2018, which applies signaling theory and evolutionary psychology to reinterpret ten everyday institutions, from education and medicine to charity and politics, through the hidden motives that actually drive them.
1 book featured·Melting Asphalt blogger & George Mason University economist
Books by Kevin Simler & Robin Hanson
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Key Ideas & Recurring Themes
We hide our motives from ourselves, not just others
In "The Elephant in the Brain," Simler and Hanson argue self-deception is strategic — not knowing your own hidden motive makes your cover story more convincing to everyone else.
Notable Quotes
"We, human beings, are a species that's not only capable of acting on hidden motives — we're designed to do it."— The Elephant in the Brain
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The Elephant in the Brain Summary and Review
★★★★☆ 4.3/5 — A sharp, uncomfortable case that self-deception is strategic, and that many of our most familiar institutions run on hidden status motives we’d rather not admit even to ourselves. Best for: skeptics of stated motives, students of institutions,…