I used to think people made rational decisions. But now I know I was wrong | Deborah Orr
by Deborah Orr from on (#3BTG4)
The value of calm reasoning - the cornerstone of democracy - is acknowledged rarely today. Even when we think we're being rational, we don't know what that is
It's been coming on for a while, so I can't claim any eureka moment. But something did crystallise this year. What I changed my mind about was people. More specifically, I realised that people cannot be relied upon to make rational choices. We would have fixed global warming by now if we were rational. Instead, there's a stubborn refusal to let go of the idea that environmental degradation is a "debate" in which there are "two sides".
Debating is a great way of exploring an issue when there is real room for doubt and nuance. But when a conclusion can be reached simply by assembling a mountain of known facts, debating is just a means of pitting the rational against the irrational.
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