I don't disagree that bad incentive structures drive human behavior towards a bad outcome. I strongly agree.

By standalone I meant looking at the incentive structure as the shelling point where there is no "before" or looking at the world through this one lense. It predicts human behavior with accuracy provided you know the incentive structure, but it never questions where it came from.

For example, I understand the current monetary incentive structure on a global scale pretty well. I can predict the behavior of investors, consumers, etc. It also helps me personally by positioning my self appropriately. But it fails to identify the origin of the incentive structure and how to correct it. You'll do well playing the game but you can't change the game or understand its origin by playing the game.

To see my point more clearly, I encourage the following:

1. Studying the structure of interest well, and find out if it is of natural origin. Did it just occur, like the flow of time, gravity, or entropy? Or,

2. Expand your map to include a few more incentive structures at once and at a global scale (e. x. Macroeconomics, Geopolotics, sociology, religion, war, etc.). Looking at the world through this lense allows you to see the behavior oo not only investors, but politicians, warmongers and global thugs. And you'll see the behaviors rhyme. You'll see they're not directionless orphan events of corruption here and there.