The elephant in the brain

What Hacker News says

1. BurningFrogSep 2026
   I learned this from "The Elephant in the Brain", which I strongly recommend: https://amzn.to/4iSyLX8
   thread
2. bonoboTPFeb 2026
   You can call it whatever you want but people make inferences. Also there is no bright line between intentional and unintentional signaling. The brain is capable of hiding plenty of stuff from its own other parts. See the book "The elephant in the brain".
   thread
3. andystepDec 2025
   Not a huge book reader, but this year two impressed me:

   - Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich by Norman Ohler

   - The Elephant in the Brain by Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson

   thread
4. lazyeyeNov 2025
   Recommend this book about how we have evolved to deceive ourselves about our true motives, in order to better deceive others...

   The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life

   https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28820444-the-elephant-in...

   thread
5. hiAndrewQuinnApr 2025
   The Elephant in the Brain

   The Enigma of Reason

   The Problem of Political Authority

   thread
6. hiAndrewQuinnMay 2024
   I've got a whole list of books like this sitting somewhere on my hard drive called "Well-Argued Ideologies Very Different From My Own". Covers the whole gamut, from anti-natalism to Z-theory.

   The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life would be my go-to. It's all about how people's motives are a lot more self-serving than you might think, including your own.

   If you liked that, and then really want to go off the deep end, try The Enigma of Reason.

   Show morethread