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Kayfabe is a term from professional wrestling that refers to the portrayal of scripted events as real, maintaining the illusion that the competition, rivalries, and personas are genuine. Wrestlers traditionally adhered to their in-ring characters both during performances and in public to preserve this illusion. The term kayfabe has evolved to also become a code word of sorts for maintaining this "reality" within the direct or indirect presence of the general public.

Eric Weinstein's Perspective on Kayfabe

In 2011, Eric Weinstein expanded the concept of kayfabe beyond wrestling. He suggested that kayfabe could describe situations where the public is aware of being deceived but accepts the deception because it serves a purpose or provides entertainment. Weinstein proposed that recognizing the presence of kayfabe in various aspects of life could enhance our understanding of societal dynamics. ^[1]

Weinstein's insights have influenced discussions about the blurred lines between reality and performance in various domains, including politics and media.

Kayfabe as a Scientific Concept

The sophisticated "scientific concept" with the greatest potential to enhance human understanding may be argued to come not from the halls of academe, but rather from the unlikely research environment of professional wrestling.
Evolutionary biologists Richard Alexander and Robert Trivers have recently emphasized that it is deception rather than information that often plays the decisive role in systems of selective pressures. Yet most of our thinking continues to treat deception as something of a perturbation on the exchange of pure information, leaving us unprepared to contemplate a world in which fakery may reliably crowd out the genuine. In particular, humanity's future selective pressures appear likely to remain tied to economic theory which currently uses as its central construct a market model based on assumptions of perfect information.
If we are to take selection more seriously within humans, we may fairly ask what rigorous system would be capable of tying together an altered reality of layered falsehoods in which absolutely nothing can be assumed to be as it appears. Such a system, in continuous development for more than a century, is known to exist and now supports an intricate multi-billion dollar business empire of pure hokum. It is known to wrestling's insiders as "Kayfabe".
Source: Eric's Edge essay on Kayfabe

Community Contributions

In 2021, Portal Community contributor and media producer Jake Orthwein released Part 1 and 2 of a high quality informative miniseries tying together Eric's ideas about politics, Kayfabe, Embedded Growth Obligations and #whathappenedin1971.

On X

2009

@EricRWeinstein

This is intolerable. English needs more words: Kayfabe, Nu, Sanuk, Yakamoz, Dafka, Paskutsvah, Masti, Retcon, Subclass, etc... #newesperanto

5:14 AM · Aug 30, 2009

@EricRWeinstein

Huge thanks to the good folks @ScienceBlogs who set up a forum:

"@EricRWeinstein the Krugman debate carries on at ScienceBlogs..."

8:59 PM · Sep 9, 2009

@EricRWeinstein

"[A] time varying objective function generally cannot be tracked by an economic index." -The Fed's T.N. 2007 Sure....without Fiber Bundles

10:01 PM · Sep 9, 2009

@EricRWeinstein

"The definition of the true cost-of-living index depends crucially upon the choice of a single indifference map" -F&S 1972. But it doesn't.

10:08 PM · Sep 9, 2009

@EricRWeinstein

"The obstacle is the lack of an answer to the question: how can you do welfare economics, if preferences change endogenously?" -CvW 2005

10:12 PM · Sep 9, 2009

@EricRWeinstein

"How can we evaluate an economic system with a measuring rod that itself changes with the system?" -CvWeizacher 2005 Wait...lets ask H. Wyl!

10:16 PM · Sep 9, 2009

@EricRWeinstein

I feel confident of what I have said about Gauge theory and Inflation. Here is something much more far out: George Soros' Thy as a gauge Thy

1:46 AM · Sep 10, 2009

@EricRWeinstein

Soros' General Thy of Reflexivity:

Markets tell worldviews how to move. (Cognitive) Worldviews tell markets how to curve. (Participating)

1:47 AM · Sep 10, 2009

@EricRWeinstein

I think Soros may well be trying to tell us something Deep but we are holding him back with ugly nonsense about mkt actors.

1:50 AM · Sep 10, 2009

@EricRWeinstein

So G.Soros: It ain't nutty. I'll try rendering your theory of Reflexivity in elegant mathematics...If you'll spring for beer.

2:03 AM · Sep 10, 2009

@EricRWeinstein

I am not ignoring the micro/macro divide. I just don't buy this "micro is healthy and macro is sick." B-S always goes metastatic.

4:17 AM · Sep 10, 2009

@EricRWeinstein

I am also not ignoring the freshwater/saltwater divide. The difference between these two schools is nothing compared to science/silliness.

12:09 PM · Sep 10, 2009

@EricRWeinstein

VaR -> Kayfabe | Coase -> Economics | Stable Tastes -> Kayfabe | Arrow's Theorem -> Economics | Rep. Consumer -> Kayfabe | B. Scholes-> Econ

12:26 PM · Sep 10, 2009

@EricRWeinstein

Good Work (e.g. Black Scholes) doesn't have to be perfect. But if it's sillier than Dr. Seuss, it should .. y'know .. probably rhyme.

12:32 PM · Sep 10, 2009

@EricRWeinstein

Now let me unpack my point about Inflation. The vulnerability of Kayfabe economics is that it can't come into contact with economics.

12:43 PM · Sep 10, 2009

@EricRWeinstein

Inflation exists in Microeconomics, In Macroeconomics, and in Kayfabe Economics. So Kayfabe is forced into convulsions to avoid the topic.

1:12 PM · Sep 10, 2009

@EricRWeinstein

Kayfabe solves it by fiat while, as the quotes show, it is thought unsolvable even in standard theory. But In Gauge theory it is solvable.

1:16 PM · Sep 10, 2009

@EricRWeinstein

What happened in 1996 is that Economics and Kayfabe Economics accidentally ran into each other head on at Harvard over inflation.

1:23 PM · Sep 10, 2009

@EricRWeinstein

This is where I learned not only about the very existence of a made up world of economics but its power and ubiquity. Kayfabe is amazing!

1:25 PM · Sep 10, 2009

@EricRWeinstein

4 YO: ROAR: I'm an Allosaurus 7 YO: No-you're-not! 4 YO: Okay. But...I'm an Allosaurus in Kayfabe! [Advantage: 4 YO]

5:39 AM · Sep 13, 2009

@EricRWeinstein

I am asked about my supposed hatred of Kayfabe. I don't hate all Kayfabe. But I demand quality Kayfabe that is science compatible.

6:51 PM · Sep 13, 2009

@EricRWeinstein

But that's political Kayfabe. In science, obligate Science is critical. It's hard to find nice things to say about Kaybrication in science.

6:55 PM · Sep 13, 2009

2010

@EricRWeinstein

My #ff rec: @Evan_Lerner. The only (other) person I've met trying to connect science as social construct with kayfabe & WWE.

10:52 PM · Mar 12, 2010

@EricRWeinstein

Cool science memes displacing deeper science are termed "Sea Cucumber Videos" at recent meetings of the NYC Kayfabe Science Fight Club.

7:23 PM · Jul 18, 2010

@EricRWeinstein

Evolutionists for Kayfabe: http://bit.ly/fFfDvd ! RT@TJ_Kelleher: if u only were allowed 1 tool for..life, u could do worse than..#kayfabe.

11:25 PM · Dec 6, 2010

2011

@EricRWeinstein

According to my Kayfabe to English dictionary 'Unrest' and 'Rage' are @NYTimes-speak for 'Revolution'.

8:42 PM · Jan 28, 2011

@EricRWeinstein

WOW Wow wow wow.

Kayfabe 1, Egypt 0.

9:05 PM · Feb 10, 2011

@EricRWeinstein

Note to protesters in Tahrir: Those of you with sons, go immediately to your doors and smear them with lamb's blood. We've got your back.

9:17 PM · Feb 10, 2011

@EricRWeinstein

CNN breaks Kayfabe to the obvious surprise of Bahrain: http://bit.ly/ezP5YZ After 1980, reporting is so rare that it is shocking to see it.

1:33 AM · Feb 20, 2011

@EricRWeinstein

Kayfabe voted top scientific concept at @Edge by head of the Technion Management Institute Shlomo Maital: http://bit.ly/gQVKNE ! #aprilfirst

9:32 PM · Apr 1, 2011

@EricRWeinstein

@umairh Yes. Kayfabe. See the essay at Edge.org on this. "Is there a word for the level of delusion we're approaching."

3:05 PM · Aug 31, 2011

2013

@EricRWeinstein

How-Stuff-Works goes in depth devoting their 'Stuff to Blow Your Mind' Podcast to my theory of Kayfabe: https://web.archive.org/web/20130127144639/http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/2013/01/24/blow-your-mind-keeping-kayfabe-with-guest-colt-cabana/ [w ProWrestler]

8:40 AM · Jan 25, 2013

@EricRWeinstein Nice. But when were you demoted to economist?

1:12 PM · Jan 25, 2013

@EricRWeinstein

It's only my character. I play an economist in Kayfabe. But I dance under the name 'Moral Hazard'.

1:33 PM · Jan 25, 2013

@EricRWeinstein

Honored to have the theory of Kayfabe peer reviewed (!?!) by Jewish ProWrestling legend and grappling scholar @ColtCabana on @BlowTheMind.

3:54 PM · Jan 25, 2013

2015

@EricRWeinstein

My Kayfabe theory & @edge essay just morphed into a video by the @BLOWtheMIND folks at @HowStuffWorks. Thanks guys! http://t.co/HVNOIkFLX9

9:19 PM · Mar 20, 2015

2016

@EricRWeinstein

"Things are seldom what they seem" -G&S

An invitation to all interested in Hulk Hogan to first read up on Kayfabe: https://edge.org/response-detail/11783

6:19 PM · May 26, 2016

@EricRWeinstein

Few knew if I was serious calling 'Kayfabe' a scientific concept in 2011. Please reread now: https://t.co/AdUt2Mbtak Welcome to Kayfabe USA. https://t.co/DxelZNmpwR

12:02 AM · Dec 10, 2016

@EricRWeinstein

Yes. We're all analytically drained. [I tried this point using the death by immune system over-reaction via "cytokine storm" & via Kayfabe ] https://t.co/kzeyh4B5O4

7:33 PM · Dec 13, 2016

The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.

7:08 PM · Dec 13, 2016

@EricRWeinstein

When faced N times w/ "Was that real or fake?", your decision🌲grows as 2^N.

An N of 3 renders discussion impossible.

Welcome to #Kayfabe.

4:16 PM · Dec 17, 2016

@EricRWeinstein

Advice to the reason-based: for the next month, get calm & ask "What's my 4Y plan for a 🌎that can overwhelm me w/ computational complexity?"

4:27 PM · Dec 17, 2016

@EricRWeinstein

@arsatiki The world will be overwhelming us all with "real or fake" questions.

4:33 PM · Dec 17, 2016

@EricRWeinstein

@MarcBodnick Ah. I Agree that this is the easy part. Disagree that this gives lion's share of relief under state sponsored kayfabe (SSK).

4:36 PM · Dec 17, 2016

@EricRWeinstein

@mike__cunning @MarcBodnick Doesn't work like that. Move to randomly half staged / half real renders the strategy dead in the water.

4:56 PM · Dec 17, 2016

2017

@EricRWeinstein

While often tempted, I'm not a free speech absolutist. I'm an anti-utopian w a commitment to keep our world safe from well meaning utopians.

6:16 PM · Jan 13, 2017

@EricRWeinstein

Most of my friends who are free speech absolutists have never run the simulator forward to see the dystopia total free speech would create.

6:18 PM · Jan 13, 2017

@EricRWeinstein

@mmay3r @micsolana

I guess I'm just a utopian idealist. You favor government planning. He is a fascist using the state to impose madness.

6:27 PM · Jan 13, 2017

@EricRWeinstein

@mmay3r @micsolana That's not a perfect Russell Conjugation because there are anarchists and market utopians. Help me out?

6:29 PM · Jan 13, 2017

@EricRWeinstein

@realDanielWalsh Not even close: clear and present danger, prior injunction, slander, libel, fighting words, obscenity standards, etc....

6:32 PM · Jan 13, 2017

@EricRWeinstein

@mmay3r @micsolana Russell Conjugation is open source. You have commit privileges. Give it a shot!

6:33 PM · Jan 13, 2017

@EricRWeinstein

@TarCiryatan @Silvereaper so true, so true. Planet Clair actually.

6:34 PM · Jan 13, 2017

@EricRWeinstein

@mmay3r @micsolana "It is a poor student who does not surpass his teacher." - L da Vinci

Nice!

6:37 PM · Jan 13, 2017

@EricRWeinstein

@HisllllDudeness As we say in the theory of selection, a chicken is simply an egg's way of making another egg. But I don't misunderstand you

6:41 PM · Jan 13, 2017

@EricRWeinstein

@njroode I struggle with this. As do we all. Nothing clever I'm afraid.

7:55 PM · Jan 13, 2017

@EricRWeinstein

@Regressipedia That's not bad. But it seeeps the problem under the "compelling" rug. I like it though.

7:56 PM · Jan 13, 2017

@EricRWeinstein

From where will we reboot literal speech once fully mired in the cognitive quicksand of Kayfabe, Kompromat, Post-truth, FUD, & Psyops?

IDK.

8:40 PM · Jan 13, 2017

@EricRWeinstein

As of today, my stance readjusts. Put simply:

Cooperation everywhere possible. Vigilance wherever necessary.

Thank you BHO Welcome DJT

3:31 PM · Jan 20, 2017

@EricRWeinstein

@wobbles That I had no idea what the DJT payload would be b/c the campaign was a kayfabe work & trolling of PC. Now we're playing for keeps.

4:25 PM · Jan 20, 2017

@EricRWeinstein

An upcoming part of a Kayfabe script would be acute physical threat requiring concentration of power & hyperloyalty to defeat.

Let's see.

4:18 PM · Feb 17, 2017

@EricRWeinstein

A main target of my @edge Kayfabe essay in '11 was @nytimes acting as @StateDept extension. Revolution is not 'unrest', 'rage', or 'spring.'

2:19 PM · Apr 26, 2017

@EricRWeinstein

According to my Kayfabe to English dictionary 'Unrest' and 'Rage' are @NYTimes-speak for 'Revolution'.

8:42 PM · Jan 28, 2011

@EricRWeinstein

I'm looking again at this tweet. It's from 3Days in to the Tahrir sq. revolution. It got 1 'like.' Why?

B/c no one would use the real term.

2:34 PM · Apr 26, 2017

@EricRWeinstein

According to my Kayfabe to English dictionary 'Unrest' and 'Rage' are @NYTimes-speak for 'Revolution'.

8:42 PM · Jan 28, 2011

@EricRWeinstein

About to interview @HulkHogan. It's odd to me that the US doesn't recognize one of our own deepest "post-truth" thinkers as a leading mind.

1:38 PM · May 1, 2017

@EricRWeinstein

That’s not an answer. I can easily believe we will have an “Ironic War” on the Korean Peninsula. That China is in it for the Lulz. That Putin’s pawnage of journalists is amazeballs.

I wrote my Kayfabe essay on this. But as a 2011 warning to our future:

https://edge.org/response-detail/11783

https://x.com/undertoad80/status/946806289585266689

6:24 PM · Dec 29, 2017

2018

@EricRWeinstein

To be clear: I don’t trust the #releasethememo movement. I don’t trust the MSM which suppresses & spins stories either. All I have is my own ability to try to piece together reality. I would like to find out that this memo is a contrived BS campaign. But how can we know? #kayfabe

4:44 AM · Jan 25, 2018

@EricRWeinstein

So, having lived through the Church commission revelations of Cointelpro inside FBI, I want the safe parts of the memo released so I can see if it’s a big deal over nothing. Thus, I’m for releasing the memo and hoping the #ReleaseTheMemo movement is a stunt. But it may not be...

4:51 AM · Jan 25, 2018

Daniel W. Drezner

You knew damn well I was gonna have a take on this when you followed me. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/05/11/the-ideas-industry-meets-the-intellectual-dark-web/

12:11 PM · May 11, 2018

@EricRWeinstein

"all these thinkers can do is appease their followers. They are thought leaders who cannot demonstrate any leadership." -@dandrezner

Nice to meet you Dan. But that "take" comes from where exactly? Research? Personal interaction? You left me confused because it didn't make sense.

5:18 PM · May 11, 2018

Daniel W. Drezner

Nice to meet you too, Eric. That "take" came from the @bariweiss essay that started this entire hullabaloo.

6:11 PM · May 11, 2018

@EricRWeinstein

Splendid. But that "Take" isn't what the IDW is about. I mean do you take issue w/ my work on labor markets? Mortgage backed securities? CPI and GDP? Bret's take on drug testing on specially bred mice? Heather on risk in Education? Ben's conservative objection to Breitbart/Trump?

6:45 PM · May 11, 2018

@EricRWeinstein

Are you objecting to Sam Harris' desire to put transcendence into Athiesm via meditation or even psychedlics? Jordan's emphasis on needing to offer unapologetically family/work-oriented male models to outcompete the lure of hate?

It just seems you found a take without a basis.

6:49 PM · May 11, 2018

@EricRWeinstein

@dandrezner @bariweiss May I ask you to look again or too explain why all the interesting things we talk about are of no interest? You might want to look at my essays on Russell Conjugation, Excellence, The crisis in Physics, Four Quadrant model, Kayfabe, Anthropic Capitalism, Coasian immigration, etc.

6:52 PM · May 11, 2018

Daniel W. Drezner

Sure, I'll take a look.

7:08 PM · May 11, 2018

@EricRWeinstein

How did it go? Honestly I would have thought this research would happen before forming such a strong conclusion.

11:54 PM · May 11, 2018

@EricRWeinstein

[please continue to hold.....]

1:27 AM · May 12, 2018

@EricRWeinstein

“All lies are told with a straight face. It is truth that's said with a dismissive giggle.”

P.J. O'Rourke

I struggle to explain to people the difference between honesty & metahonesty. Metahonesty only becomes possible when you accept the role deception plays in your own life.

5:13 PM · Oct 31, 2018

@EricRWeinstein

When I saw this sign in SF’s Castro district, I thought of my friend @SamHarrisOrg and my struggle to explain to him in early 2017 why people trust @realDonaldTrump when he is not truthful.

Trump is like the guy who added the last line on the sign when Clinton & Bush would not.

7:10 PM · Oct 31, 2018

@EricRWeinstein

Trump’s style of metahonesty is however very dangerous. I wrote about this in a 2011 essay I frequently reference on the theory of Kayfabe which I anticipated would take over as boomers were forced to deal w/ the cognitive aftermath of the Great Recession: https://edge.org/response-detail/11783

7:15 PM · Oct 31, 2018

2019

@EricRWeinstein

See this for what it is @MaajidNawaz. Through @datasociety, the activist @beccalew becomes the ‘researcher’ @beccalew. Her methodology? *Selectively* presenting linkages to create a fictional Alternative influencer Network as if it arose from data.

https://x.com/MaajidNawaz/st/MaajidNawaz/status/1111228002480861184

11:52 AM · Mar 28, 2019

@EricRWeinstein

This the Gated Institutional Narrative in action. ‘Researchers’ at institutions like @splcenter & @datasociety release reports to institutional media which is gated so as to avoid exposing activism packaged as methodical research. This leads to invite-only institutional meetings.

11:52 AM · Mar 28, 2019

@EricRWeinstein

The invite-only ‘blue-ribbon’ institutional meetings at places like The National Academy of Sciences hand pick ‘experts’ and ‘stakeholders’ while excluding critics so that policy recommendations can be issued based on the agenda backed by the ‘research’ which was actually cover.

11:52 AM · Mar 28, 2019

@EricRWeinstein

Let’s watch together shall we? This is why Becca is able to tell a bunch of Jews, PoC, women, progressives, Etc.. that they are a far right white supremacist group. Only the ‘gating’ and ‘institutional’ backing makes this work. This is as real as professional wrestling. #kayfabe

11:52 AM · Mar 28, 2019

2024

@EricRWeinstein

Managed Reality
Kayfabe
Gated Institutional Narrative (GIN)
Distributed Idea Suppression Complex
GEC
Section A of the Reserve Index
CISA
Narrative Driven Journalism
Democracy Defense Coalition
Journolist

Etc

It is not only coordinated. It is an everyday way of life for them.

8:19 AM · Jul 1, 2024

They all turned on Biden in unison immediately. Very odd …

10:00 PM · Jun 30, 2024

Related Concepts

Additional Resources

Science Since Babylon

References

↑ "2011 : WHAT SCIENTIFIC CONCEPT WOULD IMPROVE EVERYBODY'S COGNITIVE TOOLKIT?". Edge.org. Retrieved 12 December 2025.

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