Lines Without Borders

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Just a quick note to myself about rationality: Enlightenment 2.0?



There seems to be a lot more press and discussion about the irrationality of individuals in their decision-making. Behavioural studies show how when a person is given a set of choices, what they choose depends on how the choices have been presented and hence choices are inconsistent and therefore irrational.

Now as the academy and general discourse continues to discover, unravel, and document this seemingly fundamental mode of operation in human beings, will this lead to a more "rational" society? If we as a society come to document how irrational we are, will we become more driven towards rational outcomes? If computer technology helps us to acquire the information to perform calculations of our decision sets, will we use it? In other words, are we headed towards a kind of Enlightenment 2.0, without the trappings of attainable universal reason, but our decision-making becomes wholly consistent for each individual, even though what is rational is different for each person? Ah ha, the first step towards evolving into Vulcans!

1 Comments:

  • At 8:29 PM, Blogger Willard said…

    well, I don't think a decision could have a rational root- it can ONLY have a rational perception based on how it is presented. There are no "right" decisions in and of themselves.. and few decisions are bottlenecks in and of themselves. A decision is made weighing the projected course taken thereafter. That course can be altered to rationalize any decision. And then you get the question of priorities- Which priority ranks higher? A priority emphasised by the decision will be supported in afterthought.
    We life backwords.
    Rationality itself is subjective. Therefore life is but a dream. Rationality? It's an illusion.
    But mostly, I have no idea.

     

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