The Cook Up 010: The Origin of Authority Bias
Feb 18, 2021 3:37 am
The Origin of Authority Bias
Welcome to the Cook Up, a weekly newsletter full of interesting reads for curious, intelligent people who want to sharpen their minds
What's up Everyone,
This week I created a landing page/website for The Cook Up.
The best thing I think I wrote last week: The Origin of Authority Bias. The article revolves around one question — When did we start to trust people in positions of power?
Here's a little backstory to get the full context of the article.
Authority bias is a cognitive bias that influences us to believe and put extreme trust in people in positions of power and leadership.
I've seen this bias influence people all over the internet.
Here's how it happens.
People of higher social status (normally internet famous) ranging from social media influencers, writers, and the “expert”, produce content on complex topics, like science, marketing, SEO, fitness, and starting a business and with our lives being so busy we generally believe they are saying the right things, without verifying them for truth because they have social clout — normally it's pseudo clout.
While most articles talk about how to get people to make decisions based on authority, and the book Influence shows us how we commit this bias, I wanted to take a different perspective and reflect on the history and start of this bias.
Will you please check it out and let me know what you think?
With that out of the way let's talk about the ideas I'm sharing this week.
This week we're talking about the prestige trap, the creator lifecycle, Sturgeon’s law, and how bitcoin are created.
Feel free to hit reply and share what you liked, or disliked.
Let's start cooking!
Interesting Reads
“Prestige is a measure of how much status a group assigns to something. From this definition, a lot of interesting qualities of prestige can be discerned.
Since prestige depends upon what the group thinks, then it follows that it is not a fixed nor immutable quality. Groups of people differ everywhere, so what is prestigious in one place is not necessarily prestigious in another.”
“There are no limits to what creators can achieve with an audience. Audiences are the wind of the Internet Ocean. Leverage them, and you can sail anywhere.”
As a creator, your most valuable asset is your relationship with your audience.
The Creative World’s Bullshit Industrial Complex
“If someone cares more about what their industry peers think of them than the problems they are solving, they’re a bullshitter. If the idea of being “known” is barometer of their success above user (or reader) success stories, they’re a bullshitter. They are the internet’s equivalent of a reality TV star, taking advantage of the attention economy by catering to our worst instincts in lieu of substance.”
Don’t fall into the trap of being an expert before you’re ready.
Sturgeon’s Law: Ninety Percent of Everything Is Crap
“Sturgeon’s law is the adage that “ninety percent of everything is crap”. This suggests that, in general, the vast majority of the works that are produced in any given field are likely to be of low quality. For example, when it comes to books, Sturgeon’s law suggests that 90% of the books that come out each year are bad, meaning that they likely aren’t worth reading.”
Learning
“An illustrated guide to bitcoin mining, blockchains, and the “minting” process of cryptocurrency’s most popular coin.”
“Handling conflicts carefully is important. Conflict Resolution Diagram (also called “Evaporating Cloud”) is a tool that will help you resolve them peacefully while making sure that the needs of both sides are met.”
How to Quickly Clear Your Inbox of Junk Emails
“This procedure works with most popular email systems including Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and most other online email services. It also works with virtually any desktop email client.”
Tools and Resources
“The design project with open-source illustrations for any idea you can imagine and create. Create beautiful websites, products, and applications with your color, for free.”
The Cook Up site used unDraw images.
“Mindly helps to organize your inner universe. Give a structure to your thoughts, capture ideas, plan a speech, take notes. It is up to you. The universe is yours.”
“Listen to any web article in your podcast player or in our web player."
Fun Stuff
How Much Would I Have Today if I Invested $1,000 in an IPO?
“Netflix went public on May 23, 2002, with an initial public offering price of $15.00 per share. Today it's worth $549.66. You would have $474,400 you invested $1,000 in Netflix in 2002.”
Quote of the Week
An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.
— Benjamin Franklin
End
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Also, if you come across anything interesting this week, send it my way! I love finding new things to read through members of this newsletter.
With gratitude,
Will
