There are, currently, a lot of high-profile people doing crazy stuff in public. Saying outrageous things, in interviews or on social media, that we would not have expected high-profile people to do a few decades ago (at least not in public). Any explanation of this, needs to not only explain why it happens so often now, but also why it hasn't always been happening. So, "people are crazy", "people are stupid", and that sort of thing, do not work as explanations, because that has always been true. Why in public now? Why the most high-profile people?
It could be asserted that it always was happening, but we didn't formerly see it happening. Granted, but it amounts to the same question, since a lot of the outrageous stuff being said, is being said to reporters in press conferences or shareholders on videoconference meetings or otherwise in a manner intended for public consumption. Multiple corporate CEOs giving videoconferences with no pants on is not a thing which happened in prior times, and not just because of the videoconferencing part.
The reason why, is in the title of this blog post: your attention, is the scarce resource here. Not money, oil, copper, land, or any of the other things which have formerly been the scarcest resource. The reason is that:
But, there are still only 24 hours in a day. We could stop sleeping, but people are already sleep-deprived in many cases. (and why is that? because the screen of your TV, laptop, tablet, or smartphone is clamoring for your attention, perhaps?) We could work less, but people are surfing the internet as much as we can probably do without losing our jobs (imagine 1000 rich guys trying to 'steal' away your attention, that 1 rich guy has already bought and paid for; meanwhile he is doing the same to their employees, of course). We have eliminated family dinnertime, and church, and every other non-commercial use of your time, and now we have gotten into what happens whenever demand keeps growing but supply has hit a hard upper limit.
They don't actually pay for your attention, not in money anyway. They pay for it by doing ever more outrageous things to get you to look at them, not that other person/stock/movie/etc. I could give lots of examples here, but really, you know lots of them already. So, let's get to the more interesting question; what will the end result be?
As Stein's Law reminds us, "If something cannot go on forever, it will stop." Bidding wars, by their nature, cannot go on forever. They stop, when only one party to the bidding war is able (or willing) to match the top bid. So, first off, let's consider what is the reason they are willing to do so much to get your attention.
For any product for sale, there are a few relevant parameters that determine the total profit:
For anything like a stock, software product, cryptocoin, political candidate, etc. the cost to produce another unit of "product", is near zero. The cost was in the initial setup; additional "customers" impose almost no additional cost compared to the setup cost. So, the cost imposes almost no limit on how much money they make; they can make as many shares of stock, or whatever it is, as they have potential customers.
This is not too new, but what is new is the fact that, due to the internet, the number of people who hear about your product can theoretically go into the billions. If, before, you could reach 1 million people, and 10% of them might buy; and now you can reach 1 billion people, then that is still better than before, even if only a bit more than 0.01% of people buy. In other words, almost no matter how offensive you are, if it gets you noticed by more people, it is still a net win. The internet audience is just too big, and it overwhelms any disgust people feel about your behavior. If 99% of those who see you are repulsed, but 1,000 times as many people see you, you're better off, because 1% of a 1000x bigger number, is still a bigger number. 99% of those who see that CEO say or do that outrageous thing may turn away in disgust or anger, but if 1% of them buy stock in that person's company because he got their attention, he will keep doing it (and other CEO's will try to match him). The same logic applies for any other virtual product, investment, or candidate. If 10 candidates run for a party's nomination, the 6 or 7 least outrageous will not even make it into the finals, because they will struggle to get noticed at all.
So, if the reason for the bidding war (in outrageous behavior) for your attention is now clear, what will be the result?
It will be when behavior becomes so outrageous, that it actually results in less money. In other words, it has to not only cross over into illegal behavior, it has to be illegal enough to get your money taken away, in amounts large enough to make it not worth it. If saying outrageous things just gets you a fine from the SEC, but it results in bigger stock winnings, it could still end up being a net positive. If it gets you into court cases, but you mostly win them, or just pay a fine which is less than the amount your outrageous behavior got you, it is still a win.
What about claiming to be the victim of violent acts, that never actually happened? What about committing violent acts, and posting a video of it? What about admitting to criminal acts, that you never actually committed? I'm not sure what the end result of a bidding war for your attention is, because I'm not the sort to be any good at clamoring for attention. I mean come on, just look at my blog, obviously I'm not any good at that kind of thing.
One thing I can say, though, is that the usual result of a bidding war, is that the "winner" overpays, and what they get is not actually worth the cost.
Since people like us are not actual the ones in the bidding war, let's turn to what we can or should do with this information.
The first thing to recognize is that this is not a problem that a simple effort of will can fix. Evolution has primed you to pay attention to certain kinds of behavior (loud, unexpected, objectionable), and you will not be able to just override that. Maybe you have to get rid of your TV, cancel your social media account (or just delete the apps from your smartphone), get software that limits how many minutes per day you can be online, maybe it's something else. What will NOT work, is simple willpower. You're a human, you have the ability to change your strategy, but to do it you have to use your brain to find the right strategy, and no matter who you are that strategy is not just your willpower.
Second is to recognize the stakes. When inflation is high, an ordinary person cannot stop it, but they can get out of cash and into something else that holds its value better. Here, in a similar way, we cannot stop the bidding war for our attention, but we can adjust our own behavior to take it into account. Recognize how high the stakes are. Your attention, is what determines how you spend your time. "Your time", is another way of saying, "your life". If you let others grab your attention, without fighting back at all, you are quite literally letting them take your life (albeit a small piece at a time). They will take more and more of it, and eventually all of it, unless you stop giving it to them.