004 - Shared Root

The most wildly popular and profitable methods of scamming people used across human history can all be traced back to their shared root, vulnerabilities in the human mind known as cognitive biases.

From the CEO to the janitor of any company, these cognitive biases are present in every human mind, and as researchers have demonstrated a higher IQ individual is, on average, equally biased, if not more so. These cognitive biases are also deeply tied to emotional states and experience, which Antonio Damasio's research demonstrated that humans can't function without.

Today, the entire field of #marketing uses a vast array of methods built directly on the exploitation of these vulnerabilities, designed and refined to persuade people to make decisions they probably wouldn't otherwise. While persuasion is not inherently malevolent, such as benevolent examples in the book "#Nudge, the Final Edition", free markets are incentivized to maximally exploit these vulnerabilities amorally.

Every investor is bombarded with bad actors attempting to exploit these vulnerabilities for high payouts in low volume.

Every consumer is bombarded with bad actors attempting to exploit these vulnerabilities for low payouts in high volume.

Every business leader is bombarded with bad actors attempting to exploit these vulnerabilities via cold-calling spam for services.

Every #voter is bombarded with bad actors attempting to undermine their ability to vote in their best interests.

Bad actors are currently able to directly influence, exploit, and damage virtually every aspect of human society. People also frequently don't realize when they have been scammed. This makes it one of the most massive and immediate threats humanity faces, as well as one of the greatest economic opportunities in human history.

With the automatic detection of cognitive biases now exceeding the average human's performance, we can build systems to see which of the "low-hanging fruit" is rotten without biting into it.