Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life

by Rory Sutherland

Modern environmentalists also suggest that status-signalling competition between humans is destroying the planet. They propose that the Earth has enough resources to comfortably support the present population if we are all prepared to live modestly, but that natural rivalry can lead to ever-rising expectations – and with it increasing consumption. In many ways, this competition is not healthy – and nor does it necessarily contribute much to human happiness. In some ways it places people under an obligation to spend more money than they would otherwise choose to, just to maintain their status relative to other people. There is an interesting debate to be had here between business and environmentalists. My contention is that, once you understand unconscious motivation, the widespread conviction that humans could be content to live without competing for status in an egalitarian state is nice in theory, but psychologically implausible. Yet the status markers for which we compete don’t have to be environmentally damaging; people can derive status from philanthropy as well as through selfish consumption. For instance, as Geoffrey Miller notes, a tribe where males advertised their hunting prowess by conspicuously sharing meat from their kills would prosper, as a result of economically irrational behaviour. On the other hand, an otherwise identical tribe whose males signalled their strength by violently fighting each other would suffer as a consequence: even the eventual winners o...