To understand why modern society feels so broken, you need to look at the underlying laws that drive human behavior...
Once you understand these ideas, your worldview changes.
11 mental models/cognitive biases/rules that run the modern world...
1. The Zebra Effect
This explains why people are terrified to stand out. Biologists found they couldn't track a single zebra because the herd's stripes acted as visual noise.
When they marked one zebra with a red dot, the lions immediately isolated and killed it.
The modern urge to conform isn't cowardice; it's evolutionary biology at work.
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2. The Tocqueville Paradox
As living standards rise, people become *less* satisfied, not more.
When social conditions improve, the remaining inequalities or irritants become more glaring and intolerable.
This explains why the most prosperous generation in human history is also the most outraged and resentful.
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P.S. If you want my complete collection of the BEST, most useful mental models, cognitive biases, and mental fallacies, grab a free copy here:
besuperhuman.gumroad.com/l/mentalmodels
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3. Gall's Law
A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked.
You cannot design a complex system from scratch (like a new economy or government program) and expect it to function.
It will fail. This is why modern technocratic "top-down" solutions almost always end in disaster.
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4. Mimetic Desire
RenĂ© Girard’s theory that we don’t truly know what we want. We only want things because *other people* want them.
We don't desire objects; we desire the status of the model who owns the object.
Social media has weaponized this, creating a global feedback loop of envy and "borrowed" desires that leads to infinite competition.
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5. Chesterton’s Fence
If you see a fence in a field, don’t tear it down until you understand why it was put there.
Ancient traditions and social norms may look useless to the modern eye, but they are often holding back wolves you’ve never had to fight.
Dismantling "outdated" structures without understanding them is suicide.
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6. The "Ruler’s Paradox" (Principal-Agent Problem)
The person in charge is rarely in charge.
An executive cannot implement ideas on the ground because the bureaucrats (middle management) have their own incentives and act as a filter.
Nicholas II realized this too late: “I never ruled Russia. 10,000 clerks ruled Russia.”
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7. Parkinson’s Law
Work expands to fill the time available, and bureaucracy expands regardless of work.
When the British Navy decreased its ships from 68 to 20, the number of dockyard officials increased by 78%.
Institutions inevitably become bloated, slower, and worse over time as clerks manufacture work for other clerks.
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8. Preference Falsification (New)
Timur Kuran’s concept that people lie about their private beliefs to fit the perceived public consensus.
This creates a "house of cards" society where a view seems dominant (because everyone is parroting it), but is actually fragile.
Once a few people speak the truth, the facade collapses instantly.
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9. The Medici Effect
Innovation happens at the intersection of fields.
The Renaissance occurred because the Medicis funded sculptors, philosophers, and scientists to live and work in proximity.
Today, the internet is the ultimate Medici engine, allowing for a cross-pollination of ideas that traditional education tries to segregate.
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10. The Centipede's Dilemma
If you ask a centipede which leg moves fastest, it will trip and forget how to walk.
Hyper-analysis destroys natural competence.
We are currently seeing a culture of endless self-reflection, therapy-speak, and navel-gazing that is ironically eroding our ability to function as resilient human beings.
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11. Minimal Self Hypothesis
Narcissism is actually a "strategic retreat."
When the world feels random, dangerous, and overwhelming, people retreat into the only thing they can control: themselves.
The self becomes "minimal" to reduce surface area to pain.
This is why people are abandoning long-term commitments (marriage, career, community) to conserve energy for vague, upcoming disasters.
P.S. If you want my complete collection of the BEST, most useful mental models, cognitive biases, and mental fallacies, grab a free copy here:
besuperhuman.gumroad.com/l/mentalmodels
