A bureaucracy can function like a tumor. It disguises itself from the "immune system" of public accountability by using noble language ("it's for the kids"). It then redirects resources (funding) to ensure its own growth, even if it's harming the larger organism of society.

The call for radical workplace honesty ignores the psychological reality that most people view themselves through a self-serving, biased lens. Their "honesty" is often a projection of an inflated self-concept, as true self-awareness is rare and rarely aligned with how others perceive them.

Todd Rose's experience being publicly shamed for buying 'chunky' peanut butter with food stamps reveals a core flaw in many social programs. They are designed for bureaucratic control, not user dignity, which robs recipients of their autonomy and reinforces a cycle of dependency.

Humans evolved to cooperate via reciprocity—sharing resources expecting future return. To prevent exploitation, we also evolved a strong instinct to identify and punish "freeloaders." This creates a fundamental tension with social welfare systems that can be perceived as enabling non-contribution.

A policy at Stanford offering advantages like extra time for disabled students has resulted in half the student body claiming disability status. This illustrates how well-intentioned policies can create perverse incentives that undermine meritocracy.

As Charlie Munger taught, incentive-caused bias is powerful because it causes people to rationalize actions they might otherwise find unethical. When compensation depends on a certain behavior, the human brain twists reality to justify that behavior, as seen in the Wells Fargo fake accounts scandal.

Instead of a moral failing, corruption is a predictable outcome of game theory. If a system contains an exploit, a subset of people will maximize it. The solution is not appealing to morality but designing radically transparent systems that remove the opportunity to exploit.

Political ideologies like socialism consistently fail because they are not stress-tested against human nature. People inherently resist ceding their individual will and autonomy, even to a system promising a perfect outcome, leading to coercion.

The famous story of daycare parents arriving later after a fine was introduced is not just about incentives backfiring. Its real purpose was to show that people respond to a mix of financial, moral, and social pressures. Protecting one's reputation can be a stronger motivator than a small monetary penalty.