Fragile

The issues with splitting is that it creates instability when our model of ourselves starts to interact with reality.

The logic goes something like this:

• People are either the best or awful. There can be only one “best” person. It’s me.

• [I do something that’s not the best] OMG! I failed! People who are the “best” don’t fail, so I must not be the best.

• Since there are only two categories of people, I must therefore be awful.

Alternatively:

• People are either the best or awful. There can be only one “best” person. It’s me.

• [Someone else does something pretty cool] Wait a minute, if they are awful, how can they do something that cool? They must actually be the best. Which means I’m not the best. I’m awful.

Because the expectations are so high and so absolute, even the smallest evidence against the current position can completely upend our evaluation of the status quo, leading to an unstable system with limited tolerance for new information.