For centuries, philosophers and theologians have warned about the dangers of hubris. It’s an emotion that can make us arrogant, egotistical, and reckless. But psychologist Jessica Tracy suggests this caution is too broad. She argues that when we see pride only as a negative emotion, we miss out on all the powerful ways it can also be a driver of creativity, altruism, and accomplishment.
This is Hidden Brain.
I'm Shankar Vedantam.
In April 2018, a group of engineers and designers gathered on a dock in the port of Everett in Washington State.
They were there to hear from a 56 year old inventor and entrepreneur, the creator of the Titan submersible.
As a child, Stockton Rush had dreamed of becoming an astronaut.
Less than perfect eyesight quashed those plans.
And he wasn't interested in simply going along on a rocket ride.
I didn't want to go up into space as a tourist, he told a reporter.
I wanted to be Captain Kirk on the Enterprise.
I wanted to explore.
So he turned his attention to another mysterious realm, the depths of the ocean.
He founded a company, Oceangate, with the aim of ferrying passengers thousands of feet underwater, where they could view the wreckage of the Titanic.
He led the design of the Titan, casting himself as an innovator, unconstrained by convention.
Instead of encasing his entire vessel in titanium, as was the industry practice for submarines, he built its hull out of lighter weight, carbon fiber.
I think it was General MacArthur who said, you, you're remembered for the rules you break.
And I've broken some rules to make this, he said in an interview.
The carbon fiber and titanium, there's a rule you don't do that.
Well, I did.
When experts outside and inside his company raised concerns about safety, he brushed them off.
Standing on the dock in the port of Everett on that day in April, he boasted, we know more about what's happening in this hull than anyone has ever known.