Outstanding writing/analysis of a complex topic, Matt! 👏 I also find the evolution paradigm very clarifying about which virtues and values humans embrace across time and culture. You might enjoy Seligman & Peterson’s analysis of all that in their book which I reference in this essay:

bairdbrightman.substack…

Which values are expressed in action (rather than just preached in words) has a lot to do with what behaviors the environmental conditions reward and reinforce. When the most “successful” and admired people in a culture are mostly narcissists and charlatans, many people take notice and act accordingly.