#95: Deceive Like an Animal pt. 1: How the Nazis Won WWII

(05/01/2026) How did we come to live in such an intrigue-riddled, spook-haunted world? In this two-part series, we tell a story about the ascent of the post-WWII espionage establishment, and the permanent sense of crisis and unreality it has created. We tell this story through the lens of revolutionary biology, examining a few of the different political personalities involved: the critics, the pawns, and the conspirators. We examine how ritual deception is a common instrument of domination in traditional societies, and how a very similar psychology is involved in what we call false flag operations today. We look at the truly shocking prevalence of the Dark Triad traits—Machiavellianism, Narcissism, and Psychopathy—in human populations, and the difficulty more empathetic and honest people have coming to terms with this reality. We do this by focusing on the story of how one paradigmatic case study in Machiavellianism, former CIA chief Allen Dulles, helped create a clandestine Nazi power structure that survived and thrived after World War Two.

Bibliography for episode 95:

Bakiaj, Richard, Clara Isabel Pantoja Muñoz, Andrea Bizzego, and Alessandro Grecucci. “Unmasking the Dark Triad: A Data Fusion Machine Learning Approach to Characterize the Neural Bases of Narcissistic, Machiavellian and Psychopathic Traits.” The European Journal of Neuroscience 61, no. 2 (2025): e16674. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.16674.

Gross, Mart R. “Evolution of Alternative Reproductive Strategies: Frequency-Dependent Sexual Selection in Male Bluegill Sunfish.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 332, no. 1262 (1991): 59–66. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1991.0033.

Gómez-Leal, Raquel, Pablo Fernández-Berrocal, María José Gutiérrez-Cobo, Rosario Cabello, and Alberto Megías-Robles. “The Dark Tetrad: Analysis of Profiles and Relationship with the Big Five Personality Factors.” Scientific Reports 14, no. 1 (2024): 4443. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-55074-w.

Hays, Terence. Sacred Flutes, Fertility, and Growth in the Papua New Guinea Highlands. January 1, 1986.

Isichei, Elizabeth. “On Masks and Audible Ghosts: Some Secret Male Cults in Central Nigeria.” Journal of Religion in Africa 18, no. 1 (1988): 42–70. https://doi.org/10.2307/1580836.

Jonason, Peter K., Magdalena Żemojtel‐Piotrowska, Jarosław Piotrowski, et al. “Country‐level Correlates of the Dark Triad Traits in 49 Countries.” Journal of Personality 88, no. 6 (2020): 1252–67. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12569.

Jonason, Peter K., Dritjon Gruda, and Mark van Vugt. “Towards an Ecological Model of the Dark Triad Traits.” Evolution and Human Behavior 46, no. 6 (2025): 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106780.

Neff, Bryan D. “Paternity and Condition Affect Cannibalistic Behavior in Nest-Tending Bluegill Sunfish.” Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 54, no. 4 (2003): 377–84. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-003-0645-9.

Neumann, Craig S., Scott Barry Kaufman, Leanne Ten Brinke, David Bryce Yaden, Elizabeth Hyde, and Eli Tsykayama. “Light and Dark Trait Subtypes of Human Personality – A Multi-Study Person-Centered Approach.” Personality and Individual Differences 164 (October 2020): 110121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110121.

Talbot, David. The Devil’s Chessboard : Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America’s Secret Government. With Internet Archive. New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins, 2015. http://archive.org/details/devilschessboard0000talb.

Traditions of Conflict. “On Secret Cults and Male Dominance.” January 31, 2018. https://traditionsofconflict.com/blog/2018/1/31/on-secret-cults-and-male-dominance.

Webster, Hutton. Primitive Secret Societies : A Study in Early Politics and Religion. With Robarts - University of Toronto. New York : The Macmillan company, 1908. http://archive.org/details/primitivesecrets00websuoft.

Weiner, Tim. Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA. Penguin Books Limited, 2008.