Moral Lag

Our moral instincts are tools, evolved for specific conditions. When the world changes faster than our instincts update, they misfire.

Moral Lag 0 The Lindy Newsletter Posts Moral Lag Moral Lag Paul Skallas January 12, 2026 I was looking at the recent news about immigration and I thought about the concept of moral lag. Our moral instincts are tools, evolved for specific conditions. When the world changes faster than our instincts update, they misfire. This is moral lag Consider hunger. Our deepest moral wiring shouts, Feed the starving. For almost all of human history, this was correct. Scarcity was the existential threat. You ate when food appeared, because it might not appear again. Our conscience was forged in that long em

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