A Natural History of Beauty

Kevin Simler · 30 Oct 2018

Kevin Simler did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
Much of what makes humans distinctive, including their sense of beauty, comes from a drive for prestige.

Their wordsAnd increasingly I'm convinced that much of what makes humans unique - including our taste in beauty - is our hunger for prestige.
Our reading
Dominance is grounded in fear of who can harm you, while prestige is grounded in attraction to who can help you.

Their wordsDominance is based on fear (who can hurt me?), whereas prestige is based on attraction (who can help me?).
Our reading
No leader governs through dominance alone; effective leadership also relies on incentives, not just coercion.

Their wordsBut no man rules by dominance alone; every leader finds use for the carrot as well as the stick.

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The other pieces are the ones whose claims are worded most like this one's. That measures language, not agreement: they may argue the opposite.