I can’t speak for anyone else, but I expect that a sufficiently well designed intelligence, faced with hard choices, makes them. If an intelligence is designed in such a way that, when faced with hard choices, it fails to make them (as happens to humans a lot), I consider that a design failure.
The level of executive function required of normal people to function in modern society is astonishingly high by historical standards. It’s not surprising that people have a lot of “above my pay grade” reactions to difficult decisions, and that decision-making ability is highly variable among people.
I have an enormous amount of sympathy for us humans, who are required to make these kinds of decisions with nothing but our brains. My sympathy increased radically during the period of my life when, due to traumatic brain injury, my level of executive function was highly impaired and ordering lunch became an “above my pay grade” decision. We really do astonishingly well, for what we are.
But none of that changes my belief that we aren’t especially well designed for making hard choices.
It’s also not surprising that people can’t fly across the Atlantic Ocean. But I expect a sufficiently well designed aircraft to do so.
It’s interesting that we view those who do make the tough decisions as virtuous—i.e. the commander in a war movie (I’m thinking of Bill Adama). We recognize that it is a hard but valuable thing to do!
Sure. For much of human history, the basic decision-making unit has been the household, rather than the individual, and household sizes have decreased significantly as time has gone on. With the “three generations under one roof” model, individuals could heed the sage wisdom of someone who has lived several times as long as they have when making important decisions like what career to follow or who to marry, and in many cases the social pressure to conform to the wishes of the elders was significant. As well, many people were also considered property- and so didn’t need to make decisions that would alter the course of their life, because someone else would make them for them. Serfs rarely needed to make complicated financial decisions. Limited mobility made deciding where to live easier.
Now, individuals (of both sexes!) are expected to decide who to marry and what job to pursue, mostly on their own. The replacement for the apprentice system- high school and college- provide little structure compared to traditional apprenticeships. Individuals are expected to negotiate for themselves with regards to many complicated financial transactions and be stewards of property.
(This is a good thing in general, but it is worth remembering that it’s a great thing for people who are good at being executives and mediocre to bad for people who are bad at it. As well, varying family types have been a thing for a long time, which may have had an impact on the development of societies and selected for different traits.)
The level of executive function required of normal people to function in modern society is astonishingly high by historical standards. It’s not surprising that people have a lot of “above my pay grade” reactions to difficult decisions, and that decision-making ability is highly variable among people.
100% agreed.
I have an enormous amount of sympathy for us humans, who are required to make these kinds of decisions with nothing but our brains. My sympathy increased radically during the period of my life when, due to traumatic brain injury, my level of executive function was highly impaired and ordering lunch became an “above my pay grade” decision. We really do astonishingly well, for what we are.
But none of that changes my belief that we aren’t especially well designed for making hard choices.
It’s also not surprising that people can’t fly across the Atlantic Ocean. But I expect a sufficiently well designed aircraft to do so.
It’s interesting that we view those who do make the tough decisions as virtuous—i.e. the commander in a war movie (I’m thinking of Bill Adama). We recognize that it is a hard but valuable thing to do!
Could you elaborate on this?
Sure. For much of human history, the basic decision-making unit has been the household, rather than the individual, and household sizes have decreased significantly as time has gone on. With the “three generations under one roof” model, individuals could heed the sage wisdom of someone who has lived several times as long as they have when making important decisions like what career to follow or who to marry, and in many cases the social pressure to conform to the wishes of the elders was significant. As well, many people were also considered property- and so didn’t need to make decisions that would alter the course of their life, because someone else would make them for them. Serfs rarely needed to make complicated financial decisions. Limited mobility made deciding where to live easier.
Now, individuals (of both sexes!) are expected to decide who to marry and what job to pursue, mostly on their own. The replacement for the apprentice system- high school and college- provide little structure compared to traditional apprenticeships. Individuals are expected to negotiate for themselves with regards to many complicated financial transactions and be stewards of property.
(This is a good thing in general, but it is worth remembering that it’s a great thing for people who are good at being executives and mediocre to bad for people who are bad at it. As well, varying family types have been a thing for a long time, which may have had an impact on the development of societies and selected for different traits.)