| Yup. Having an authority figure able to adjust compassion appropriately up or down can leave a failure mode where someone manipulates the authority figure into being more compassionate than appropriate, getting the manipulator benefits at the expense of the authority figure or organization. In a very competitive situation where those expenses hurt competitiveness, eventually that can result in the authority figure/organization losing the competition - which removes that authority figure from authority (or destroys the entire organization) and hence the benefits to the manipulator. Having an authority figure who is always ruthless and selfish doesn’t have that failure mode. The failure mode in that situation is one where the authority figure is inappropriately ruthless and selfish to the point it is harming their effectiveness/destroying the organization. However, the system is able to handle that better - as long as the authority figure follows the codified rules and delivers results, that’s ’business as usual’, and if they don’t, there are penalties - up to removing the authority figure or ruining them. It tends to be more obvious than excess manipulators, as by their nature assholes leave more obvious marks. And the authority figures selfishness here helps prevent them from doing anything to that extent that can be documented. In a brutal environment, a consistently ruthless and selfish authority figure (as long as they are effective in their goals) can be the easier and more stable option. Near as I can tell, it’s why ‘dark triad’ traits are evolutionarily advantageous in the right mix. Too much of them destroys what is needed to actually produce value and grow. Too little makes one susceptible to predators. |