About the author:
Daniel is CTO at rhome GmbH, and Co-Founder at Aqarios GmbH. He holds a M.Sc. in Computer Science from LMU Munich, and has published papers in reinforcement learning and quantum computing. He writes about technical topics in quantum computing and startups.
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# The Elephant In The Brain

This is a small summary of part 2 of the book "The Elephant in the Brain".

Body language: We are blind to our body language because it betrays our selfish, competitive nature

Laughter: Signal "I feel safe" while playing games (also comedians play: they violate norms and talk about taboos but do this in playful manner)

Conversation: Signal how knowledgeable one is, for mating and alliance purposes

Consumption: Signalling to others, mating purposes

Art: Signalling that resources can be wasted on art, mating and alliance purposes

Charity: Signalling, alliance purposes (as friend one is more likely to help if very charitable)

Education: Signalling, just get the certificate

Medicine: Often just to show loyalty to the patient (eg neighbor brings selfmade cake, not store-bought one to show care), signals others how much political support one has (in evolutionary context, eg 1 mio years ago), supporters hope for return support if they ever get sick

Religion: Community, costly rituals and giving up resources to show that one's committed so one becomes trustworthy and part of community, in community best chance of survival

Politics: Voters vote for their group, not for oneself, they signal loyalty to their group (to various degree)

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