Episode 024: Rationality and the Perils of Nostalgia with Dr. Steven Pinker
Aug 16, 2023
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Dr. Steven Pinker, an experimental psychologist and renowned author, discusses irrational decisions, nostalgia, and the perception of a worsening world. He explains the concept of expected value in decision making and the importance of rationality in education. The episode also mentions Dr. Pinker's podcast featuring interviews with notable guests.
Our brains are wired for nostalgia, causing us to think things are worse than they actually are.
Understanding expected value leads to better decision outcomes in personal choices and climate change.
Deep dives
The Illusion of a Worsening World
The availability heuristic and biased media coverage mislead people into thinking the world is always getting worse, when in fact there are many positive changes happening.
Rational Decision Making and Expected Value
Understanding expected value and applying rational decision-making tools can lead to better decision outcomes in various contexts, such as personal choices and climate change.
The Challenge of Climate Change
Addressing climate change requires aligning individual incentives with collective interests through binding agreements, changing payoffs, and internalizing negative externalities.
Promoting Rationality in Education
Teaching probability theory, logic, expected utility, and other cognitive tools can empower the next generation to make more informed and rational decisions.
Do our brains trick us into thinking things are worse than they are? In this episode, Dr. Steven Pinker, experimental psychologist and world-renowned author, joins host Annie Duke, co-founder of the Alliance for Decision Education, to explore why we make irrational decisions and to share some useful tools to help improve our judgment. They discuss how our brains are wired for nostalgia and why we erroneously think that the world is getting worse. Steven also explains how expected value can be a useful decision-making tool. And finally, Steven and Annie discuss game theory and negative externalities, revealing what hockey players wearing helmets have in common with ordinary citizens trying to save the planet!
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