Summary of The Elephant In The Brain:-

Summary of The Elephant in the brain:-

BOOK: THE ELEPHANT IN THE BRAIN- HIDDEN MOTIVES IN EVERYDAY LIFE

INTRODUCTION:-

About Writers:

• Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson are the writers of the Book- The Elephant in the Brain- Hidden motives in everyday life.

• The book explores self-deception and hidden motives in human behavior. This book is one of the best self-help book.
• Kevin Simler is a writer and software engineer currently living in San Francisco, CA.
• Robin Hanson is an associate professor of economics at George Mason University and a research associate at the Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University. He has a PhD in social science from Caltech, master's in physics and philosophy from U. Chicago, and worked for nine years in artificial intelligence as a research programmer at Lockheed and NASA

Story Line:

• Everyone knows or maybe heard about ‘The elephant in the room’ which directly means that we are not addressing or don’t want to acknowledge to something which is in the room.

• The Book “The Elephant In The Brain” refers to the hidden motives in our brain which we don’t accept.
• The Elephant in the Brain argues that many of our actions are motivated by a desire to cultivate allies and mates and, to cultivate effectively, humans have learned to lie others and ourselves.
• The aim of this book is to confront our hidden motives directly — to track down the darker, examined corners of our psyches and blast them with floodlights. Then, once our minds are more clearly visible, we can work to better understand human nature: Why do people laugh? Why are artists sexy? Why do we brag about travel? Why do we prefer to speak rather than listen?
• Our unconscious motives drive more than just our private behavior; they also infect our venerated social institutions such as Art, School, Charity, Medicine, Politics, and Religion. In fact, these institutions are in many ways designed to accommodate our hidden motives, to serve covert agendas alongside their "official" ones.
• The existence of big hidden motives can upend the usual political debates, leading one to question the legitimacy of these social institutions, and of standard policies designed to favor or discourage them. You won't see yourself - or the world - the same after confronting the elephant in the brain.

• The Main approach of this book is about ‘How people see our good motives and we play our good motives on the brighter side, sideline the hidden motives just for the people, society, friends, and Social media.

• Just bragging about your good things or the things or activity you are good at in front of people.

EXAMPLE: For example, like you are an actor and people ask why you opted this as career or profession, You would say I like playing different characters, meeting new people, playing different people,etc but the main thing which no one talks is money, fame, and social status you get being an actor just because its not acceptable by society.

• “Think about it- which kind of people are likely to make better friends, coworkers, and spouses? “CALCULATORS- who manage their generosity with a spreadsheet or “EMOTERS”- who simply can’t help being moved to help people right in front of them.

• This all talks about our hidden motives while doing some work like educating, celebrations, etc.

“We don’t worship simply because we believe. Instead we worship and believe because it helps us as social creatures” - Robin Hanson and Kevin Simler.

• This book consists a lot and a lot which one can’t summaries cause it feels good to read by yourself so that you could read the book and find your hidden motives.

Conclusion:

• Read this book to find your inner motives and get a reality check on what is the elephant in your brain which is hidden.

• Thanks to Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson for this amazing Written.