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Tag: decision making

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    The smart choice is to be a bit foolish

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    1–2 minutes

    Rational decision-making advocates eliminating threats to prevent conflict, yet this approach makes everyone a potential enemy.

    Meanwhile, game theory suggests ‘tit-for-tat’ for fostering self-interest-based cooperation, but this lacks genuine trust and loyalty. Leaders in such systems tend to become alienated and monstrous, knowing they will inevitably need to impose discipline.

    Instead of a strict cost-benefit analysis, embracing mercy and kindness could offer a transformative paradigm shift: you no longer have to worry about the smart move (engaging the intellect and ego) when the smart move is to be foolish.

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    winning at losing

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    1–2 minutes

    The problem with winning by identifying with the underdog is the position reversal: once you win, you have moved from identification as the oppressed into a position of oppressor. To maintain your revolt against power you must set yourself up for defeat so that you once again have a bully to fight: put yourself back into the role of oppressed.

    You maintain the moral high ground by deferring the actual responsibility (realpolitik) of retaining the high ground.

    That is to say, the confusion through identification fails in its role to support, focussed more on the optics of maintaining morality and revolution.

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    “you decide you”

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    1–2 minutes

    A new advertising billboard, presumably Spite (a Coca-Cola product), has reverted to text advice in black with large white text commanding "You decide you."

    While mimicking the style of Barbar Kruger and John Carpenter’s "They Live," where one dons spectacles to reveal the functioning ideological imperative, this advertisement sides with subjective authenticity.

    If "you decide you" -which is to make a self-determined choice- either you align with the advertising message, or it aligns with you, subverting your individuality back into obeying an external authority’s imperative.

    Your inverted rebellion now must be "don’t decide," or "decide for others." Both unpalatable. We must see beneath the aesthetic mechanism of capture and say "fuck it" to the therapized self-help and freedom lingo stolen and packaged to bind you to a brand: "just do it" or "think different" which prompts following instead of thinking or doing or deciding.

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    Options without Choice

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    1–2 minutes

    We have more choice options than ever, but local color is falling into abeyance with standardized, mechanized consumer units.

    The pound, the 12 pack, 6 flavors, or 3 finish options that can define you as a person: a set of limited, standardized gold-plating requiring your focus, functional blinders, preventing you from deciding who you really might be if you designed yourself without the ability to purchase.

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    identification double-down

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    1–2 minutes

    We all have certain traits that we identify with, such as intelligence or kindness. However, we may feel the need to exaggerate and elevate these traits to appear more special and deserving than we actually are.

    This may involve engaging in gray morality (hedging) to gain an advantage. For instance, we may believe that we deserve more time off, special consideration, or forgiveness when in thee wrong.

    Ultimately, this behavior is driven by our insecurities, which in turn creates situations that are not secure.

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    The Irrational Actor (Peltzman Effect)

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    1–2 minutes

    To be a "rational actor," you must have awareness of the risks.

    Most people move through the world on unconscious bias, making calculations beneath a rational threshold.

    The Peltzman Effect shows the safer we make things, such as demanding seatbelts and airbags, the riskier our behavior becomes. We have a "risk budget" we subconsciously calculate and increase our risky behavior to the corresponding risk to life and limb.

    In short, we are irrational actors who actively thwart the technology and policies aimed at saving us: safety-proofing doesn’t save us; we fight against it.

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    life as chess

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    1–2 minutes

    Given a well-constructed set of rules, only a few solutions exist, yet moves must be made to progress.

    Each action/step/move can be made with anger or poise. Either way, it must be made.

    You do not have to play the game gracefully, but you must keep in mind the outcome you wish. Playing with rage can achieve your outcome, but in the iterative game of life, it alienates potential allies who see the move, not the game.

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    Freedom comes from restriction

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    1–2 minutes

    Why should you struggle when you can have a mediocre life for free? To have a great life.

    Freedom of possibility comes from growth, not mediocrity. Paradoxically, your options for living expand when you fully engage specific restrictions.

    Not all restrictions (not all submissions) help, but those that allow you to maintain focus and process emotions in a non-destructive manner create resilience and wisdom that will enable you to move freely through the world, unhampered by the anxiety and disorders that plague others.

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    Confusing bad for wrong

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    1–2 minutes

    Being bad is a value judgment; being wrong is making an error. (A recipe can be “bad” without being wrong, i.e. you can follow the recipe without a mistake and still make a lousy soup.)

    To be wrong is to be incorrect (such as selecting the wrong answer), while a bad decision is intentionally harmful (to decide not to study for the test).

    This distinction (and most language distinctions) matters because those who re-label a “bad” (moral) choice as a “mistake” (incorrect/wrong) will allow them to dodge responsibility.

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    Happiness is a choice

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    1–2 minutes

    You have to find happiness every day in order to be happy.

    It is sitting there waiting for you but not given. It requires awareness, which is usually occupied and distracted by attempting to build or buy happiness.

    This means happiness is a choice of where we focus.