Any policy, technology, process, etc must take that into account.
I definitely wish that's not how it was, and I don't think that's how it should be, but we have to work with what we have to work with.
There are plenty of ways to get people to rise to their best selves, rather than sink to their worst selves, as they are in context while competing for high paying jobs, and we should always try to induce the best outcomes possible.
I think this what you're getting at by suggesting we don't just give up, despite knowing what we know about human nature. But we also shouldn't deny the hard truth that humans won't anyways behave the way we wish they did.
It's hard to speak quantitatively about qualitative things, but that' something that enters the discussion as soon as words like "more" or "less" are uttered.
In any case, you're absolutely correct that I'm definitely naive because I'm limited to just my lifetime.
Even evolution does that. check out Endosymbiosis
Robbing a loaf of bread so your children can eat is very different from cheating on a test/interview for a job with a kingly salary. One is doing what one needs to do to survive, and morally justifiable. The other is pathetic and craven.
Except the honest competitor who was passed over for the position, or the promotion?
- nature is inherently competitive. - civilization and culture temper this but requires vigilance to maintain.
The second implies that some cultures may be more effective at tempering nature’s excesses than others… and also that it can change in a way in which it becomes less or more effective, or at least effective for different things…
I think this part is a crucial part, that many comments here miss. Honesty is not useful if it's not rewarded, consequently if cheating can be rewarding, because of non-vigilance. We see this not only among humans but also in animals/birds, and in general nature.
However, I think you're being a little naive if you think the days of "yesteryear" were somehow different in man's capacity and willingness to do what he needs to do to survive.
These comments in particular read to me as something you want to be true. Who doesn't want their profession to be the noble, honest one and other professions to be the dishonest ones.The reality is that humans have not fundamentally changed in hundreds of thousands of years. If we're doing it today, you can bet we were doing it yesterday and that we'll be doing it tomorrow.