Anti‑power norms push the powerful to rebrand influence as 'prestige' by claiming disproportionate credit for others’ output. When a field has a positive shock, better‑resourced power brokers crowd in, capture status, and gradually displace the most causally productive actors—dampening innovation. Aligning prestige with measured product (e.g., decision/prediction markets, prestige futures) could counter this drift.
— It explains a recurring pathway from success to stagnation and suggests concrete institutional fixes to keep status tethered to real contributions.
Alan Schmidt
2026.01.16
72% relevant
Schmidt’s essay documents how real operational authority can exist off‑stage (church and corporate secretaries who 'make things happen')—a concrete instance of the existing idea that prestige and visible authority often disguise where power actually operates; the article provides the actor (secretaries) and mechanism (bureaucratic smoothing) that connect to the broader thesis about hidden power.
Robin Hanson
2025.10.11
100% relevant
Hanson’s Silicon Valley example: post‑2008 elite inflows into tech increased prestige sensitivity while innovation waned.
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