Books and Arts;Book Review;Deceit and self-deception；Suspicious mindsThe Folly of Fools：The Logic of Deceit and Self-Deception in Human Life. By Robert Trivers.Deceiving others has its advantages. Camouflage in nature is useful to the hunter and the hunted.The smarter the animal,the more likely it is to use (and detect) deception to its benefit.Humans are particularly good at exploiting trickery to get ahead―for more money, more power or a desired mate.Yet deception is difficult, regardless of intelligence.Lying often leaves us nervous and twitchy, and complicated fictions can lead to depression and poor immune function.And then there are the ethical implications.In “The Folly of Fools” Robert Trivers, an American evolutionary biologist,explains that the most effectively devious people are often unaware of their deceit.Self-deception makes it easier to manipulate others to get ahead.Particularly intelligent people can be especially good at deceiving themselves.Mining research in biology, neurophysiology, immunology and psychology,Mr Trivers delivers a swift tour of links between deception and evolutionary progress. Some of it is intuitive.The grey squirrel, for example, cleverly builds false caches to discourage others from raiding its acorns.
