There's also another aspect to it that a lot of people forget about. If you want to be a professional athlete then you have to cheat. You must use performance enhancing drugs because "everyone is doing it" and if you don't you're at a supreme disadvantage.

The economy is the same way. There are plenty of people out there who would very much like to not choose the greedy-as-fuck option, but they feel like they can't do it because again, that would put them at a huge disadvantage.

The systems we are trying to build on flat architecture have an emphasis on reputation. Good acting can now be monetized, allowing the entire system to change.