#mental-model #bias # [[Epistemic status]] #shower-thought #to-digest # TODO - Digest the book Elephant in the brain which talks a lot about status games # Status game ![[DALL·E 2022-06-26 18.16.59 - The hedonistic race pursued by men, the exhausting thirst for status and power, by Picasso..png]] ![[DALL·E 2022-06-26 18.16.11 - The hedonistic race pursued by men, the exhausting thirst for status and power, by Picasso..png]] >In the most dysfunctional organizations, signaling that work is being done becomess a better strategy for career advancement than actually doing work. >~ [[Peter Phiel - Zero to One|Peter Phiel]] ![[DALL·E 2022-06-19 18.25.13 - The hedonistic race pursued by men, the exhausting craving for status and power, by Picasso..png]] >**Status**, on the other hand, is a [[Zero Sum Game]]. It’s a very old game. We’ve been playing it since **monkey** tribes. It’s hierarchical. Who’s number one? Who’s number two? Who’s number three? And for number three to move to number two, number two has to move out of that slot. So, **status** is a [[Zero Sum Game]]. > >Politics is an example of a **status game**. Even sports is an example of a **status game**. To be the winner, there must be a loser. I don’t fundamentally love **status games**. They play an important role in our society, so we can figure out who’s in charge. But fundamentally, you play them because they’re a necessary evil. > >On an evolutionary basis, if you go back thousands of years, **status** is a much better predictor of survival than wealth is. You couldn’t have [[Wealth|wealth]] before the farming age because you couldn’t store things. Hunter-gatherers carried everything on their backs. > >So, hunter-gatherers lived in entirely status based societies. Farmers started going to [[Wealth|wealth]]-based societies. And the modern industrial economies are much more heavily [[Wealth|wealth]]-based societies. ~ [[Naval Ravikant]] ![[DALL·E 2022-06-19 11.27.54 - The hedonistic race pursued by men, the exhausting thirst for status and power, by Picasso..png]]