# Deceit and Self-Deception May Shape Human Disasters by Robert Trivers > “I believe that deceit and self deception play a [disproportionate] role in human-generated disasters, including misguided wars, international affairs more [generally], the collapse of civilizations, and state affairs, including disastrous social, political and economic policies and miscarriages of justice.” > **— Robert Trivers**, *2005 Edge Annual Question, response passage* ## Sources and Context - **Direct publication and locator:** [Evolutionary biologist, Rutgers University; Author, Natural Selection and Social Theory — Robert Trivers](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/10362) — author's response, continuous passage. - **Exact original excerpt:** “I believe that deceit and self deception play a disproportinate role in human-generated disasters, including misguided wars, international affairs more gnerally, the collapse of civilizations, and state affairs, including disastrous social, political and economic policies and miscarriages of justice.” - **Context and editing:** Square brackets visibly correct Edge's printed 'disproportinate' and 'gnerally'; the exact original is preserved below. 'I believe' retains Trivers's epistemic posture. Exact printed sentence: “I believe that deceit and self deception play a disproportinate role in human-generated disasters, including misguided wars, international affairs more gnerally, the collapse of civilizations, and state affairs, including disastrous social, political and economic policies and miscarriages of justice.” - **Local Edge archive:** [[research/Edge 2005 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 2005 Full Quotation Curation]], response EDGE2005-094. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Greatest Transformation in Human History|The Greatest Transformation in Human History]] - **Article:** [[articles/Information Persistence in Complex Systems|Information Persistence in Complex Systems]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Self-Deception|Self-Deception]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Self-Deception|Self-Deception]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “I believe that deceit and self deception play a [disproportionate] role in human-generated disasters, including misguided wars, international affairs more [generally], the collapse of civilizations, and state affairs, including disastrous social, political and economic policies and miscarriages of justice.” — Robert Trivers, 2005 Edge Annual Question, response passage https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-robert-trivers-deceit-self-deception-may-shape-human ```