Feat to Cheat

Russia produces the best hackers, born in a culture where gaming the system had been the difference between minimalist survival in a culture of Soviet elitism or living with a few nice luxuries. Cheating in our Air Force readiness tests among the officers commanding our nuclear missile arsenal shocked many, but are all these folks just adhering to traditional human values?

We all like to think that honesty is the norm in our world, but the truth seems to suggest otherwise: “Although it is comforting to think that most people are essentially honest, cheating—defined as acting dishonestly to gain an advantage—is actually astoundingly common. In a 1997 survey, management professor Donald McCabe of Rutgers University and Linda Klebe Treviño, a professor of organizational behavior at the Pennsylvania State University, revealed that about three fourths of 1,800 students at nine state universities admitted to cheating on tests or written assignments. In 2005 sociologist Brian Martinson of the HealthPartners Research Foundation in Bloomington, Minn., and his colleagues reported that one third of scientists confessed to engaging in questionable research practices during the previous three years.” Scientific American, April 11, 2013.

Maybe cheating isn’t just a human trait. Maybe, it’s Mother Nature’s Darwinian gilt to many living creatures. “In nature, cheating has evolved as a way for organisms to gain advantage over others without incurring the cost of effort. For an individual, the calculus is simple: Can I get something for nothing without being caught and punished? At every level, some critters take the risk. Microbiologist E. Peter Greenberg of the University of Washington has found that some Pseudomonas bacteria exploit public goods generated by other cooperating bacteria without sharing in production. Similarly, systems biologist Alexander van Oudenaarden of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has found that some Saccharomyces yeast cells cheat by using the products of a sugar-metabolizing enzyme made through the labor of other cells.

“Moving up the food chain, the diminutive cleaner fish also are known to abuse relationships for personal gain. The cleaner fish species Labroides, for example, feast on the parasites that attach themselves to the parrotfish Chlorurus, often servicing the larger fish as cooperating male-female pairs. Cleaner fish, however, prefer to eat the mucus secreted by the parrotfish's skin. When a cleaner fish snags mucus rather than parasites, it cheats the parrotfish of its benefit in the arrangement. Biologist Redouan Bshary of the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland and his colleagues have observed that parrotfish frequently respond to such behavior by fleeing, so that both the cheater and its straitlaced companion lose out on the food. In retribution, the wronged cleaner fish will sometimes chase its partner. The dilemma appears to discourage cheating by cleaner fish, given that cleaners are more likely to cheat when feeding alone.” Scientific American.

My management consulting friend, Dennis Duitch (in his May 31^st RSS feed), adds: “(1) Research at Cornell found undergrads lied in 37% of phone calls and 25% face-to-face, but only 14% of emails ‘which leave a permanent trail versus conversations which are ephemeral’;   (2) A study at universities of Arizona & N. Carolina found that sleep-deprived students lied more often (having to do with the brain region that regulates emotions & behavior), and that ‘a dose of caffeine helped them resist  temptation to be unethical a third more often’; (3) A Science Magazine study found that people ‘cheat more in messy environments which trick them into thinking that social norms are more easily ignored’; (4) A Psychological Science study found that over 60% of subjects were more likely to cheat in dark rooms (versus 24% in a fully lit one) having to do with ‘the impression of anonymity and feeling of not being watched.’ Management is esoteric but knowing these things can’t hurt.  [Bloomberg Businessweek – May 19, 2014]”

Spying, invading privacy, diplomatic and military deception, state secrets to gain an advantage over the enemy, etc. are forms of institutional cheating that are considered not only “normal” but essential for national security. So where are the dividing lines, black and white versus gray? Can one live in an honest and moral world, holding one’s head on high, or does modern society make that impossible? I’d like to think we can rise above the pull of mendacity, and perhaps there is a moral balance that is difficult to described, but exactly where do you think that bright line sits? Gee, Aunt Jane, what a lovely dress! Uggggly! White lies? Black lies? Is there a gray lie?

I’m Peter Dekom, and exactly what is morality and how can we embrace its call?