Will Storr

And then there's the other two kind of forms which are based on our reputation, our identity. And so the first one is competence. So we become good at stuff. So we become valuable to our group. by becoming an excellent hunter or an excellent honey finder or an excellent storyteller or an excellent sorcerer. And so people respond to us by rewarding us with status.

And, you know, in all human groups, the more status you get, the better everything else becomes. You become... safer, better fed. You get greater access to choice of mates. In the modern world, you get richer. It's always worked like that. It always will work. But the other way of earning status is by virtue. We also award status to people who we perceive as virtuous.

And, you know, in all human groups, the more status you get, the better everything else becomes. You become... safer, better fed. You get greater access to choice of mates. In the modern world, you get richer. It's always worked like that. It always will work. But the other way of earning status is by virtue. We also award status to people who we perceive as virtuous.

And, you know, in all human groups, the more status you get, the better everything else becomes. You become... safer, better fed. You get greater access to choice of mates. In the modern world, you get richer. It's always worked like that. It always will work. But the other way of earning status is by virtue. We also award status to people who we perceive as virtuous.

And the role of virtue in human groups is about rules. It's about knowing the rules, knowing the stories, but it's also enforcing the rules. So again, we have this very naive view that virtue is obviously good. But virtue is 50% good, 50% evil. Because, you know, packed in with virtue is that instinct to enforce the rules and to punish people who don't share our story world. So, you know...

And the role of virtue in human groups is about rules. It's about knowing the rules, knowing the stories, but it's also enforcing the rules. So again, we have this very naive view that virtue is obviously good. But virtue is 50% good, 50% evil. Because, you know, packed in with virtue is that instinct to enforce the rules and to punish people who don't share our story world. So, you know...

And the role of virtue in human groups is about rules. It's about knowing the rules, knowing the stories, but it's also enforcing the rules. So again, we have this very naive view that virtue is obviously good. But virtue is 50% good, 50% evil. Because, you know, packed in with virtue is that instinct to enforce the rules and to punish people who don't share our story world. So, you know...

Michelle Obama, you might call her a virtue superstar because she's known for her perceived moral goodness by her people. The Pope, the Dalai Lama, these are virtue superstars. These are people who are incredibly high status. Greta Thunberg, on the basis of the perception that they are high in levels of virtue.

Michelle Obama, you might call her a virtue superstar because she's known for her perceived moral goodness by her people. The Pope, the Dalai Lama, these are virtue superstars. These are people who are incredibly high status. Greta Thunberg, on the basis of the perception that they are high in levels of virtue.

Michelle Obama, you might call her a virtue superstar because she's known for her perceived moral goodness by her people. The Pope, the Dalai Lama, these are virtue superstars. These are people who are incredibly high status. Greta Thunberg, on the basis of the perception that they are high in levels of virtue.

But also, during the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guards were playing virtue-based status games. People doing cancel culture, it's dominance virtue. They're not interested in competence. They're not interested in success. They're interested in, I'm going to punish you for not following the rules and for not believing the sacred stories of my group.

But also, during the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guards were playing virtue-based status games. People doing cancel culture, it's dominance virtue. They're not interested in competence. They're not interested in success. They're interested in, I'm going to punish you for not following the rules and for not believing the sacred stories of my group.

But also, during the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guards were playing virtue-based status games. People doing cancel culture, it's dominance virtue. They're not interested in competence. They're not interested in success. They're interested in, I'm going to punish you for not following the rules and for not believing the sacred stories of my group.

Rivalry is interesting. So within a group – Rivalry can be very productive. But rivalry tends to be classified as a one-on-one thing. So if you are rivalrous with one individual, and one of the tests of rivalry, people who are rivals are usually quite similar. They're playing the same status game, and they have a history of near wins in close matches. So that's the recipe for a rivalry.

Rivalry is interesting. So within a group – Rivalry can be very productive. But rivalry tends to be classified as a one-on-one thing. So if you are rivalrous with one individual, and one of the tests of rivalry, people who are rivals are usually quite similar. They're playing the same status game, and they have a history of near wins in close matches. So that's the recipe for a rivalry.

Rivalry is interesting. So within a group – Rivalry can be very productive. But rivalry tends to be classified as a one-on-one thing. So if you are rivalrous with one individual, and one of the tests of rivalry, people who are rivals are usually quite similar. They're playing the same status game, and they have a history of near wins in close matches. So that's the recipe for a rivalry.

And that kind of rivalry can be amazing. It can drive people to incredible heights. feats it's the lennon mccartney thing um you know in the in the status game i told the story of you know the true origin story of the iphone which is that when steve jobs went to a barbecue his wife that his wife organized with some twat from microsoft who was sort of sort of

And that kind of rivalry can be amazing. It can drive people to incredible heights. feats it's the lennon mccartney thing um you know in the in the status game i told the story of you know the true origin story of the iphone which is that when steve jobs went to a barbecue his wife that his wife organized with some twat from microsoft who was sort of sort of

And that kind of rivalry can be amazing. It can drive people to incredible heights. feats it's the lennon mccartney thing um you know in the in the status game i told the story of you know the true origin story of the iphone which is that when steve jobs went to a barbecue his wife that his wife organized with some twat from microsoft who was sort of sort of

going, oh, Microsoft has solved computing. You've got this touch device with a stylus. It's going to blow you out of the water. And then Jobs came in to work on the Monday and was furious, livid, and instructed his team to figure out a way of blowing Microsoft out of the water. And it wasn't going to be a stylus. It was going to be with a finger. So, you know, that's rivalry.