Liars and outliers
by Bruce Schneier · first published 2012
67% recommend30% neutral4% critical
Why HN recommends it
A wide-ranging look at trust in society and why cooperation holds together, covering law, reputation, morality, and security as ways of curbing defectors. Suits readers curious about trust and incentives.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
In today's hyper-connected society, understanding the mechanisms of trust is crucial. Issues of trust are critical to solving problems as diverse as corporate responsibility, global warming, and the political system. In this insightful and entertaining book, Schneier weaves together ideas from across the social and biological sciences to explain how society induces trust. He shows the unique role of trust in facilitating and stabilizing human society. He discusses why and how trust has evolved, why it works the way it does, and the ways the information society is changing everything. - Publish
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…terms such as "hypernormalization" or "accelerationism" [6][7][8][9] For a better applicable human scale game theory primer, check out Bruce Schneier's (yes, the same legendary cryptographer Bruce), "Liars and Outliers" https://www.schneier.com/books/liars-and-outliers [1] https://medium.com/@sarabizarro/the-trolley-problem-now-903a... [2] https://old.reddit.com/r/trolleyproblem/top/?sort=top&t=all [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0qjK3TWZE8…
on “A Brief Introduction to the Basics of Game Theory” ↗…result is the same: a chilling effect on speech. If you aren't careful about how you consider this event, your response is "I'd better be careful what I say." Edit: I highly recommend Bruce Schneier's "Liars and Outliers", it is a masterful work about the social costs of security.
on “Caution on Twitter urged as Britons barred from US” ↗Perhaps the time is past that airport stories are Hacker News material? Is it because somebody "hacks" themselves into an airport? Otherwise I strongly suspect the "Liars & Outliers" book by Bruce Schneier covers all relevant aspects of airport security.
on “Stranded Jet Skier Breaches Multimillion Dollar Security System At JFK Airport” ↗These Bruce Schneier Talks at Google try to explain this: Liars and Outliers: https://youtu.be/m3NJ-Ow2Lvg Click Here to Kill: https://youtu.be/GkJCI3_jbtg Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World: https://youtu.be/GhWJTWUvc7E Highly recommended it since you…
on “People care more about privacy than they think” ↗…exploit through "hypernormalization" and "accelerationism" [5][6][7][8] For a better applicable human scale game theory primer, check out Bruce Schneier's (yes, the same legendary cryptographer Bruce), "Liars and Outliers" [1] https://ncase.me/trust/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elinor_Ostrom#Design_principle... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enclosure [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dawn_of_Everything…
on “A Brief Introduction to the Basics of Game Theory” ↗…and willing to flip with the public opinion of his constituents... Technically a good trait in a politician, but most of his constituents are rich conservatives [4] might have been in Bruce Schneier's Liars and Outliers, brilliant book.
on “Interpol filter scope creep: Australia ordering unilateral website blocks” ↗…because we live in a society with sufficiently little violence. This is the case because we are able to sufficiently trust one another, which is enabled at this scale by government. I highly recommend "Liars And Outliers", by Bruce Schneier, on the topic of trust in society. "Prohibition is something the government did. You're just helping my case by bringing it up." I thought we were trying to explore our various positions…
on “ Schneier Born Yesterday?” ↗I've just finished reading Bruce Schneier's "Liars and Outliers": http://www.amazon.com/Liars-Outliers-Enabling-Society-Thrive... Very interesting and gives you a lot to think about. Highly recommended.
on “Ask HN: Summer reading” ↗…mentions regulatory capture and specifically refutes it as a defense for bad behavior. I also don't think it is possible to build a complex social system that doesn't rely on trust. I suggest reading "Liars and Outliers" (http://www.schneier.com/book-lo.html) if you're interested in this stuff. I enjoyed it a great deal.
on “The Market Has Spoken - and it is Rigged” ↗Indeed. As long as we're recommending Schneier's books, his most recent ("Liars & Outliers") would also seem quite relevant.
on “Why Package Signing is not the Holy Grail” ↗> You'd have to define trust to understand and then answer the question. Luckily there's a book that does that. Liars and Outliers: Enabling the Trust that Society Needs to Thrive http://www.amazon.com/Liars-Outliers-Enabling-Society-ebook/...
on “Can I Be Trusted?” ↗…larger organization over a collection of individuals? Are they not the same thing? What social structures make one more trustworthy over another? There's a great book on this by Bruce Schneier called Liars and Outliers. I highly recommend you read it. https://www.schneier.com/books/liars_and_outliers/
on “React Native for Windows and Mac” ↗…public. His foibles should be a cautionary tale. (3) I can't cite anything pithy to summarize this and I'm not articulate enough to put into words my takeaways, but I highly recommend Bruce Schneier's Liars And Outliers, about effective ways to address issues of security, trust, and defection from the social contract.
on “Sometimes Science Is Wrong” ↗…to assholes or to excusing their assholishness due to other qualities). Bruce Schneier goes into this in excruciating novel-length depth with sources and case studies: https://www.schneier.com/books/liars-and-outliers/
on “The SoC Controversy” ↗…compiler. Fundamentally, all security is based on trusting somebody, understanding their incentives and intentions and weighing risk and reward. An excellent book on the subject is Bruce Schneier's "Liars and Outliers" https://www.schneier.com/books/liars-and-outliers/.
on “EU Commission Doesn't Understand What's Written in Its Own Chat Control Bill” ↗