What Does Listening To This Podcast Say About You? – Robin Hanson On Signaling

In Conversations with Tyler, a podcast, Robin Hanson explains why he thinks signaling explains a lot about how we act and think.

Economist Robin Hanson argues that most of our social behavior is driven by rather selfish, often hidden, motives. Yet we continue to tell ourselves more flattering stories about what drives our behavior: We like to have a positive impact on people, or we want to do what we believe is good and moral, or we like to contribute to important causes. 

Are we all jerks then? 

Hanson's thesis does not mean that all humans are consciously trying to game everyone in town in their own favor. It just means that we may be overemphasizing some of the good, pro-social reasons that might drive our behavior, while downplaying some of the more selfish reasons, like advancing our careers or interests, getting some positive attention from our fellow citizens, or even just feeling good about ourselves. And all of these play a role in our actions too.  

Hanson goes into greater detail about this, and other of his ideas, in an interview program hosted by his fellow economist Tyler Cowen. Conversations with Tyler, indeed, is a great series of informal, quite personal talks with a wide range of intellectuals and professionals. 

They are also fun: Cowen, for example, pushes Hanson to explore some of the farthest corners of his argument, where it often fails to hold. Sure, we can all agree that signaling plays a role, but just how much it matters varies between contexts where the signal is clearer and those where it is harder to pick up. And it remains to be seen whether the more selfish motives Hanson talks about are actually as important in more collectivist societies. 

Despite the shortcomings of the argument, I believe you will appreciate a podcast where you can entertain ideas without fully committing to them. But what does that signal about you?