Nobody Cares: The Philosophy of Indifference

Why does effort no longer pay? Why does trust erode even without collapse? Why does democracy function—yet feels hollow? We understand the system—yet choose not to invest in it. It’s the rise of the nobody-cares equilibrium. Through three figures—the hustler, the sucker, and the nobody-cares agent—Nobody Cares reveals the hidden logic of modern behavior. Using tools of game theory, this book shows how indifference can be rational. Through epistemic logic, it explains how everyone can know—and still not act. Drawing on attention economics, it reveals why caring has become costly. We live in the age of indifference. Yet the real problem is not that nobody cares. It is that everyone acts as if nobody else does. "This is a book for anyone troubled by the gap between what we know and what we do — and, for those whose task it is to teach others to care, an illuminating formal analysis."—Sonja Smets, ILLC, University of Amsterdam "Nobody Cares: The Philosophy of Indifference is a provocative and essential book. It is required reading for anyone seeking to understand contemporary society and find solutions to what ails Western democracies."—Duncan Pritchard, University of California, Irvine