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Musings Report 2024-42 10-19-24 With Deceit Comes Blowback
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With Deceit Comes Blowback
Every day, we're flooded with implicit reminders that we inhabit a mechanical universe explained by physics, chemistry and money. In previous eras, the analogy was a clock: all the parts are guided by physical laws. Today the analog is a computer: inputs generate outputs, everything obeys the coding of genetics, software, legal statutes, etc.
In this universe, technology is unleashed and it runs where it will run, and if our lives are torn asunder, so be it, you can't stop Progress. Our only choice is Darwinian: either chase the golden ring or lose the race.
In this universe, deceit is nothing more than a tool that we use to improve our competitive position or milk an advantage. There are no moral considerations, no sense that the truth has any more value or power than deceit. If the truth offers some advantage in the moment, by all means use it. But if deceit is more advantageous, then by all means use deceit. It's the gain that counts, not the means of getting it.
In this so-called post-truth world, everything is open to interpretation. If I insist "this is my truth," you must accept that it has equal footing with the actual truth of the situation. This is certainly convenient, as it strips truth of its power: there is no "truth," that's mere illusion; everything is an interpretation that serves my interests.
In this world, sins of omission are not sins, for there is no sin, there is only the struggle to maximize private gain by whatever means are available. So exploiting the power to change the pricing of a product behind the curtain isn't deceitful; it's merely good business practice because it maximizes private gain.
Selling a shoddy product by exploiting trust in a brand is not deceit, it's merely good business practice.
Exploiting tax loopholes by fudging accounting is not deceit, it's merely good business practice.
Denying the exploitation of the powerless is not deceit, it's merely good business practice.
When caught, obfuscate, claim confusion or error of judgement--in other words, lie--or issue an insincere, meaningless apology that is nothing more than a gussied-up excuse: the dog ate my homework, so we defrauded customers of $100 million. OK, let's move on.
It's worth browsing the Corporate Settlements/Fines database compiled by Jon Morse: over 2,600 corporate admissions of wrong-doing, many of such scale that the settlement/fine exceeds $500 million.
Since nobody went to prison, this is all just "the cost of doing business."
In a culture steeped in deceit, anyone who passes up an opportunity to take advantage of someone else isn't viewed favorably; they're a chump for sacrificing a ripe opportunity for worthless moral pride.
But this claim we live in a mechanistic, post-truth, morality-free world is false. We're not parts in a complex Antikythera Mechanism, we are human beings with hard-wired sensibilities of truth, trust, fairness, deceit, wrongdoing, guilt, justice and consequences. These hard-wired sensibilities are key to our primary advantage, our ability to work in groups and share knowledge.
In other words, ours is an intrinsically moral universe, and so deceit eventually delivers profound consequences, consequences that will convulsively overturn regimes and social orders. There appears to be no consequence to deceit / denial, hiding or omitting the truth, clinging to lies, but the blowback is built in and cannot be suppressed forever.
We're told that there is no truth, there are only private definitions of truth, but this is sophistry, a convenient ruse to cloak our greed and wrongdoing.
In my new book, I focus on Anti-Progress, the Nemesis to Progress's Hubris. The cultural embrace of a morality-free mechanistic world in which deceit and truth are nothing more than value-free tools is Hubris, and the Nemesis of blowback is building beneath the surface of techno-euphoria and greed--two sides of one coin.
Truth has a power that moves us, even as we deny it. This denial has a cost, for we know deep down we're deceiving ourselves and those around us. Deceit also has a power, the yang to truth's yin. Deceit seems like a compelling solution, for if nobody speaks up, then doesn't the problem go away, but the falsity only gains force beneath the surface, for deceit only appears passive: I did no wrong, I just said nothing.
But this refusal to speak the truth, to report the truth, is an act with consequences. It is not passive. That too is an excuse. Trust rests on truth, and when we realize we've been lied to, cheated, bamboozled, misled to benefit others' interests, then trust is lost. Our good faith is broken and cannot be repaired with more lies, omissions, excuses and insincere apologies.
If someone or something is important, then only the truth serves. Self-serving deceit is a way of saying, "you're not important enough for me to tell the truth."
Many mistakenly view morality as the needless baggage of religion. Science tells a different story. Our sense of truth, trust, fairness, deceit, wrongdoing, guilt and justice are hard-wired, and the convenient fantasy that all these can be dispensed with as needless obstacles to self-enrichment / self-protection is false.
Ours is a culture, society and economy of deceit, and we tell ourselves "this is the natural order of things, humans have been deceitful since the Stone Age," as if our innate willingness to sacrifice others for our own gain justifies deceit.
What the apologists omit is that even Stone Age humans resented being ripped off and lied to, and the wrongdoers were ejected, shunned, pushed out to manage life on their own--a death sentence in more ways than one.
In modern societies, "truth commissions" are an expression of our desire to strip away all the layers of deceit and reveal the truth of what happened.
Social trust is eroding because truth is eroding. A society based on deceit will collapse, and in the aftermath, truth will be demanded as the sole means to restore trust. Nemesis cannot be denied, suppressed or crushed, for ours is a moral universe, and seeking cover by bleating "everybody cheats, humans have always cheated" only amplifies the coming blowback.
In a mechanistic world, such blowback is impossible. In a moral universe, it's inevitable.
Highlights of the Blog
Isn't It Obvious? 10/18/24
We're Told This Is Progress, But It's Actually Anti-Progress 10/16/24
Can We Rein In the Excesses of Financialization Without Crashing the Economy? 10/14/24
Best Thing That Happened To Me This Week
I was blessed with separate visits by fellow content-creators (Robert and Adam) whom I've only spoken to before--it was good to meet them in person and spend time with each of them. Here is a photo Adam took of Akaka Falls, and a photo of Robert's.
What's on the Book Shelf
Two and Twenty: How the Masters of Private Equity Always Win
Sachin Khajuria
Plunder: Private Equity’s Plan to Pillage America
Brendan Ballou
These Are the Plunderers: How Private Equity Runs – and Wrecks – America
Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner
From Left Field
NOTE TO NEW READERS: This list is not comprised of articles I agree with or that I judge to be correct or of the highest quality. It is representative of the content I find interesting as reflections of the current zeitgeist. The list is intended to be perused with an open, critical, occasionally amused mind.
Many links are behind paywalls. Most paywalled sites allow a few free articles per month if you register. It's the New Normal.
An AI Bot Named James Has Taken My Old Job
Wikipedia is facing an existential crisis. Can gen Z save it?
'The system is the problem, not people': how a radical food group spread round the world.
China could soon have more pets than toddlers. Why that’s a headache for Beijing.
Life without Bruce and Brandon: Shannon Lee on losing her superstar father and brother.
Proud and impoverished in the 'Heartland': an interview with Sarah Smarsh.
Office Building Losses Start to Pile Up, and More Pain Is Expected.
People Are Sharing Telltale Signs That Someone Grew Up Poor, And They're Spot On.
China Raises Retirement Age for the First Time Since the 1950s: The move, made in the hope of addressing an aging population, was decidedly unpopular.
Japan tries to reclaim its clout as a global tech leader.
What Happens When Half a Million People Abandon Their City: About a quarter of the residents of Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second-largest city, have moved away — and more are expected to soon follow.
The Prince We Never Knew: A revealing new documentary could redefine our understanding of the pop icon. But you will probably never get to see it.
"There is no authority but yourself." Jiddu Krishnanurti
Thanks for reading--
charles |
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