That said, I think people should drop the notion that humans are rational. We’re boundedly rational, and this is balanced with logical reasoning.
It’s often said in pop culture/society that being rational is somehow “better” than being emotional. I used to believe this long ago, but now I think that’s bull. Emotions exist for a perfectly valid purpose, as a guide to our environment and how to interact with and control it. The fact is many humans make decisions or process information on solely emotive rather than rational pretexts. As an example, two queues were open at the supermarket the other day. The first had a really obese woman serving but was far shorter. The second had a cute Indian woman serving, but was far longer. I took the longer queue, just to say hello/making chit-chat/flirt with the cute woman. To some this is “irrational”, but to me it’s emotive and instinctual. And generally this is how humans often behave in the real world, and there is nothing wrong in that.
If chatting with cute women is utilitous for you, your decision was rational. Rationality doesn’t mean you have to restrict yourself to “official” payoffs.
I believe it’s more of a spectrum.
That said, I think people should drop the notion that humans are rational. We’re boundedly rational, and this is balanced with logical reasoning.
It’s often said in pop culture/society that being rational is somehow “better” than being emotional. I used to believe this long ago, but now I think that’s bull. Emotions exist for a perfectly valid purpose, as a guide to our environment and how to interact with and control it. The fact is many humans make decisions or process information on solely emotive rather than rational pretexts. As an example, two queues were open at the supermarket the other day. The first had a really obese woman serving but was far shorter. The second had a cute Indian woman serving, but was far longer. I took the longer queue, just to say hello/making chit-chat/flirt with the cute woman. To some this is “irrational”, but to me it’s emotive and instinctual. And generally this is how humans often behave in the real world, and there is nothing wrong in that.
If chatting with cute women is utilitous for you, your decision was rational. Rationality doesn’t mean you have to restrict yourself to “official” payoffs.