# Deception May Crowd Out Genuine Information by Eric R. Weinstein > “Evolutionary biologists Richard Alexander and Robert Trivers have recently emphasized that it is deception rather than information that often plays the decisive role in systems of selective pressures. Yet most of our thinking continues to treat deception as something of a perturbation on the exchange of pure information, leaving us unprepared to contemplate a world in which fakery may reliably crowd out the genuine.” > **— Eric R. Weinstein**, *“Kayfabe,” Edge Annual Question, 2011* ## Sources and Context - **Direct full source and exact passage:** [“Kayfabe,” Edge Annual Question, 2011](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/11783) — Weinstein attributes the evolutionary observation to Richard Alexander and Robert Trivers, then makes his own wider argument about information environments. The 'may' in his warning remains a possibility, not a forecast of inevitable collapse. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Collapse of Deception and the Coherence Principle|The Collapse of Deception and the Coherence Principle]] - **Article:** [[articles/Humans and AIs as Entangled Learning Systems|Humans and AIs as Entangled Learning Systems]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Self-Deception|Self-Deception]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Self-Deception|Self-Deception]] - [[wiki/Robert Trivers|Robert Trivers]] - [[wiki/Information Asymmetry|Information Asymmetry]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “Evolutionary biologists Richard Alexander and Robert Trivers have recently emphasized that it is deception rather than information that often plays the decisive role in systems of selective pressures. Yet most of our thinking continues to treat deception as something of a perturbation on the exchange of pure information, leaving us unprepared to contemplate a world in which fakery may reliably crowd out the genuine.” — Eric R. Weinstein, “Kayfabe,” Edge Annual Question, 2011 https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-eric-weinstein-deception-crowd-out-genuine ```