On Selfishness

2023.09.10

Lindy Expectancy: 22 Weeks

The word “selfishness” gets thrown around a lot, most of the time with a negative connotation. Sometimes, though, someone will say it’s good to be selfish.

I agree with this implied split–I think sometimes it is good to be selfish, while other times it’s not. But what makes the difference?

I believe it has a lot to do with time scales: the short-term versus the long-term.

The Categorical Imperative

There’s a really simple, elegant heuristic that you’ve probably heard of before: The Golden Rule. Practically every major religion has some variation of it. Here’s a simple formulation of it, followed by a great graphic from wikipedia:

A quite difficult to read 19th century philosopher, Immanuel Kant, takes this rule one step further. His formulation of the “Categorical Imperative” adds a layer of complexity to the Golden Rule, but an important one for the discussion on short-term vs long-term selfishness.

Hm. So according to Kant, everything we do, not just how we interact with others, should be something we’d not only be okay with others doing, but felt good enough about that we believe others should do.

We’re not entitled to acting in any way that anyone else isn’t, even in private.

The Corporate Garden of Eden

I’m of the view that short-term selfishness is destructive and to be avoided at all costs. What I mean by short-term selfishness is something that serves a short-term desire, like a quick dopamine hit, especially at the expense of others.

Let’s give each some color with an example: you are at a conference in which everyone is supposed to get one apple, but you, you greedy bastard: you eat TWO.

The Golden Rule is sufficient to see why this is wrong—do you want other people to eat your apple? After all, you’ve implicitly eaten theirs. The Categorical Imperative is also more than capable of revealing the problem here: do you want to live in a lawless wasteland in which the status quo is to be an apple thief? I didn’t think so.

Something to point out is that eating the second apple doesn’t only negatively impact others, it negatively impacts you, too. First off, behavior like that breaks down trust and erodes your long-term relationships, ultimately negatively effecting you. Secondly, it trains you to be the kind of person who puts your short-term desires over others’ needs; it will make it harder to delay gratification in the long run, which, in my world view, is the impetus for growth.

Empathetic Artisans

A few weeks ago, I wrote about “empathetic craftsman.” I’m now going to talk about “empathetic artisans,” because I decided I like “artisan” better than “craftsman.” For all intents and purposes, it means the same thing.

Think of someone who has mastered their craft by caring so much about how the thing they make will interact with the world. This only happens after investing a substantial amount of time and care into one’s crafter over years. It doesn’t have to be a Mikey Musumeci level obsession, but it does have to be a consistent, disciplined commitment.

This will, at times, involve putting the practice of the craft above other things. It will involve making sacrifices and delaying gratification.

Is the artisan selfish for not going out and drinking with his friends every night? Is the artisan selfish for only texting during a few hours each day? Is the artisan selfish for setting up his or her life in such a way that they have the time needed to get better at creating value with their output?

Yes, the artisan is selfish for all of those things… but, in a good way.

The Society You Want to Live in

Back to Kant: Act only in the way that you’d like everyone else to act.

I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer to read well written books by caring authors. I’d prefer to use software that isn’t buggy. I’d prefer to eat at a restaurant in which the chef cares how exceptional his dish is. I’d prefer to have leaders who understand what the people they lead actually need.

We’re only going to get those things if authors, programmers, chefs, and leaders are selfish—in the long-term. Reinvestment in your own capacity is long-term selfish. It will increase your own earning power and make you better at what you do. But, it will also make for a more vibrant world. It will help you create more value for others.

The argument: in the long-term, your self-interest is aligned with that of society’s.

This is why we need Kant, and not just the Golden Rule—it’s not only about how you want to be treated, it’s about acting in a way in which you think the tribe would benefit from if everyone followed suit. It’s being a leader in everything that you do.

No Islands

None of this justifies being an island of a man or a woman; spending quality time with friends and loved ones, those you genuinely care about, is the sort of thing that I would consider to be, in the long-term, in your best interest & in the interest of society. It’s perfectly congruent with this view on long-term selfishness.

Perhaps this warrants an entire post on its own, but I think the principle of long-term self-interest scales up pretty well–would a corporation pollute if it was taking a 50 year view? Would C-Suites optimize for short-term earnings bumps if they couldn’t sell their equity until 5 years after they left the company?

Take the Long View

If being “selfish” means acting in your own self-interest, then “selfishness” itself is not the problem. The problem is short sightedness–caring about your own immediate desires, putting hedonism and a small time scale above reinvesting in yourself for tomorrow. The mistake is confusing the single minded pursuit of low order, cheap things with things that will help you in the long run.

In the long-term, your own self-interest is very well aligned with societies.

A difficulty with turning this definition into action is pulling oneself away from our world’s bias to the short-term. If you can get a cheeseburger in 8 minutes, why would you work at anything for 8 years? Being long-term selfish, reinvesting in yourself and others, is hard to do when you don’t get to see results for such a long time. If you can see through it, though, the world will be yours.

So, consider being a little selfish, but only when it’s in the same way you’d want others to be. You matter.

Cheers,