When I was younger, I had no idea how many people - consciously or otherwise - view language entirely as transactional. They treat all communication as an exercise in extracting benefits from (or causing harm to) other people. There is almost no adherence to principle or truth or reality. It goes beyond mere rational self-interest and into the realm of pathologically dishonest existence.

When you don’t know this about the world, because you maybe grew up surrounded by honest communicators, then you make all kinds of mistakes on account of your projecting your own mode of thinking onto others. This is vaguely related to the concept of gullibility.

Probably the prevalence of such bug people has always been high. Maybe the primary purpose of religion was to suppress this broken segment of the population, for the betterment of mankind. Broadly enforcing cultural norms via religion also forces those bug people to adopt a different ethos (on a surface level) in order to survive. I dunno, I’m spitballing.

When I was younger, I had no idea how many people - consciously or otherwise - view language entirely as transactional. They treat all communication as an exercise in extracting benefits from (or causing harm to) other people. There is almost no adherence to principle or truth or reality. It goes beyond mere rational self-interest and into the realm of pathologically dishonest existence. And when you don’t know this about the world, you make all kinds of mistakes on account of your projecting your own mode of thinking onto others.

Probably the prevalence of such bug people has always been high. Maybe the primary purpose of religion was to suppress this broken segment of the population, for the betterment of mankind. I dunno, I’m spitballing.