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Daniel
on
How We Decide
Jonah Lehrer is an editor at the very hip science magazine, Seed. He's a prolific and talented writer with a focus on neuroscience. I like how he writes, smoothly setting the stage for what I hope will be a very informative and enlightening adventure.
I don't think there are any news flashes in the snippets I've posted from the book's Introduction, but we're being led to a deeper understanding of how the brain works.
I think if I was a college freshman again today, this is what I would find myself studying -- brain and cognitive sciences. There's such a rich intersection among the disciplines of biology, neuroscience, psychology, education, language, mathematics, and so much more. Endless opportunities for discovery.
over 1 year ago
Daniel
on
How We Decide
"Whenever someone makes a decision, the brain is awash in feeling, driven by its inexplicable passions. Even when a person tries to be reasonable and restrained, these emotional impulses secretly influence judgment. ... [but] Sometimes feelings can lead us astray and cause us to make all sorts of predictable mistakes. ...
The simple truth of the matter is that making good decisions requires us to use both sides of the mind. ... There is no universal solution to the problem of decision-making. The real world is just too complex. ..."
over 1 year ago
Daniel
on
How We Decide
"As long as people have made decisions, they've thought about how they make decisions. ... Ever since the ancient Greeks, these assumptions have revolved around a single theme: humans are rational ... deliberate and logical creatures ... [whose] rationality came to define us. It was, simply put, what made us human."
Along those lines, he mentions Plato, Descartes, and the field of modern economics, going on to note, however:
"There's only one problem with this assumption of human rationality: it's wrong. It's not how the brain works."
over 1 year ago
Daniel
on
How We Decide
From the Introduction --
"This book is about how we make decisions. ... From the perspective of the brain, there's a thin line between a good decision and a bad decision .. This book is about that line."
over 1 year ago
