I think a lot of people fail to recognize that they're the next target, or convince themselves they're special in some way that makes them immune. It's like when someone knowingly participates in an affair and tells themselves "Sure, they're cheating on their current partner to be with me, but after they break things off I know we'll be together forever!"

Some people really do thrive on this shit though. They know the rules of the game and want to play it. What they’re really thinking is they’ll be better at the game than their opponents.

I mean can you actually imagine the internal monologue of a guy like Sam Altman?

Yup, exactly this

For example, if you go off with the cheating partner, don't expect it to not happen again