ABSTRACT
During the 1990s there was increasing interest in what is called ‘protean
behaviour’. Proteus was the Greek god who constantly outwitted his
enemies by having the ability to change his shape in unpredictable ways. It
is the aspect of unpredictability which justifies the link with Greek mythol-
ogy. In terms of natural selection, there is, it seems, an advantage in being
able to behave erratically so that actions are harder to predict. Humans
have developed the capacity to think randomly in order to gain competitive
advantage. This, it is argued, has been a major factor in human develop-
ment and creativity. Its roots lie in what has been called ‘Machiavellian
intelligence’, which refers to the power to predict the actions of others and
thereby be able to manipulate them.
