Perverse Incentives

Biological Parallel

Male water striders coerce females into mating by attracting predators—they create surface ripples that draw fish, forcing females to mate quickly to escape. The incentive (avoid predation) produces the opposite of female preference (mate choice). Brood parasites like cuckoos exploit host parental incentives: the massive cuckoo chick triggers 'feed the largest mouth' instincts, causing parents to starve their own offspring. Perverse incentives emerge when signal-response systems evolved for one context get exploited in another. Biology is rife with incentive hacks.