Genuine effort trumps artificial intelligence? Ozempic & costly signaling. Part 2
June 17, 2025
By Gonzalo López Martí – Creative Director
What’s the value or attractiveness of being skinny if you obtained it, to paraphrase our commander in chief, through the fat man’s shot (AKA: Ozempic, Mounjaro, Wegovy et al)?
What’s the value of a work of art or an accomplishment of intellectual acuity if it was done with the aid of AI?
While it is not impossible to accomplish something of value sans sweat through a happy accident, we are instinctively wired to use effort as a measure of worth.
One of the most salient examples of “effort signaling” or “costly signaling” in the animal kingdom is the peacock’s tail: it is cumbersome, mostly useless and even dangerous (it makes the carrier more visible and vulnerable to predators).
Which is precisely the point: it appears to be a signal the males flaunt to attract females.
The message?
You should mate with me because I am so strong and healthy that I can afford to burden myself with this bulky yet beautiful plumage that makes me vulnerable to predators.
In short: your hatchlings will be safe, strong and long-lived if I father them.
Many species have been known to deceptively augment their markers of health and strength through deception, but none to the extent we humans do.
How will we judge our environment when everything and everyone is faked through chemistry, surgery and technology.
IMHO, through effort markers*.
In other words: costly input.
How hard was the work involved in obtaining it?
As I pointed out above, effort is important to assign value to things.
It is certainly not the only parameter, but it is one of the main indicators.
That’s why bespoke is more expensive than off-the-rack.
That’s why handmade meals are more expensive than McDonalds assembly line food.
Someone might say: the result is what matters, and it is totally subjective, regardless of how you obtained it.
I beg to differ.
The result is always judged, albeit instinctively or subconsciously, as the product of discipline and/or sound decisions.
If the result is good but random, or just a happenstance, it has little value.
No money burns a hole in one’s pocket faster than gambling winnings.
Back to evolution: your good or bad genes are the result of the good or bad decisions or your line of ancestry.
Don’t shoot me, I’m just the messenger.
What’s the definition of good genes then?
By natural selection criteria: good health conducive to reproduction, survival and the protection of progeny from threats such as predators and malnourishment.
* The Effort Paradox: Effort Is Both Costly and Valued (National Library of Medicine): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6172040/
