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Sebastian Junger on Tribe

EconTalk

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The Utilitarian Principle of Get Utility

I want to challenge the economists out there listening, students and faculty to think about what economics has to say about this. And I think the answer right now in this discipline is precisely nothing. We have these strange models where people get utility, which is a vague term to mean satisfaction or pleasure or delight or meaning out of stuff. It belongs in our utility function, but I don't think necessarily that's the right way to deal with it. But we're not a slave to our wiring, right? I mean, we have to understand that's a trait that was adaptive and useful. And we have to know when it must be overridden"

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