Why does cheating seem to occur frequently? A new book by Cambridge social scientist Dr. Jonathan Goodman believes that the answer lies in our evolutionary history.
Invisible competitorspublished by Yale University Press, claims that humans not only evolved cooperation, but also exploited cooperation through deception. He said this long-lost feature now threatens democracy, climate action and social trust.
The Hidden Legacy of Human Evolution
Goodman, a researcher at the Cambridge Public Health and Wellcome Sanger Institute, believes that free riding (no contribution required) free riding is not a modern distortion, but an ancient survival strategy that has evolved with us.
“At every level of society, free riders are among us,” Goodman warned. “Pretending otherwise would make our own goals unrealistic and, worse, seem desperate.” He believes that when we become socialized, humanity has not stopped being selfish. Instead, we get better at hiding it.
Language: Double-edged Sword
At the heart of Goodman’s argument is a paradox: the same language skills that allow humans to build trust also help us mask our true motivations. “We use language to keep our plans invisible,” Goodman wrote. “Humans collaborate more than other known creatures until we imagine a way of competing, exploiting, or forcing.”
In other words, there was no deception after cooperation. It is a feature of the same adaptive toolkit, which evolves next to it. This is what keeps the modern Free Knight from corporate taxes to political powerhouses, so it’s hard to spot, let alone stop.
From Hunting – Gatherers to Hedging Funds
In the ancestral community, cheating is hard to hide. If someone accumulates tools or food, others will notice it. Shared survival depends on transparency. But today’s economy is built on Intangible assets– Digital accounts, legal vulnerabilities and trust-based systems – Spoofing is easier and often rewarded.
According to Goodman, this shift has left exploiters unnoticed. “Today, most of us rely heavily on intangible assets for currency exchange,” he said. “People can easily hide resources, distort their means, and invalidate the effectiveness of social regulations gathering around risks.”
Key Points Invisible competitors:
- Free riding is a developmental trait, not a rare moral failure.
- Language is both our biggest tool for cooperation and our most sharp weapon of deception.
- Modern society makes deception easier by covering up the obvious proof of reciprocity.
- Education and exposure (rather than punishment) are our best defense against the exploiters.
- Trust must be placed in discernment, rather than blind optimism or blanket cynicism.
What can be done?
“We need to be about human reality,” Goodman said. “We have both.” [selfish and cooperative] Therefore, we need to learn how to distinguish trust. “The solution, he believes, is in education, institutional design and social exposure, not just punishment.
“Losing social capital through reputation is an important motivation for anyone,” he said, noting that news and public discourse are powerful tools for taking responsibility. Nevertheless, he acknowledges the danger of even being hijacked by tools of personal or political interests: “People across the political field accuse others of virtue signals or abuse of goodwill political movements for profit.”
Is there still hope?
Goodman doesn’t sugar the bet: “The dilemma that each of us is facing now is to face invisible competition or let exploiters destroy society until democracy is dissatisfied in the free world, and dissenting freedom disappears.”
His message is not only a warning, but also a call to self-awareness. If cheating is what makes us part of humanity, so is the ability to reflect, adapt and choose a better path. The challenge is not to be perfect, but to be more honest with our nature and what we may still be.
Invisible competitors: How we develop into a competition in a cooperative world As of June 17, 2025, Yale University Press is available from Yale University Press.
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