Illusions and personal decision-making

Erich Vieth | December 10, 2009 | Comments (0)

Behavioral economist Dan Ariely uses classic visual illusions and his own research to show that we are often not in personal control of our own-decision-making. Outside factors often compel our decisions, even though we always insist that we are always in control or our choices. The organ donation and ibuprophen examples are phenomenal. He also advocates a method for bar-hopping. Fun-filled and educational talk. The serious message is that we need to understand our vulnerabilities as “rational” people and then build our way around these vulnerabilities. This talk thus has implications for those who believe whole-heartedly in free will.

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Erich Vieth on If the Bible is really the word of God, why aren’t more people actually reading it?
Tony: Regarding the agency issue, check out Michael Shermer's comments on "patternicity" and "agenticity." http://dangerousintersection.org/2009/06/14/michael-shermer-talks-patternicity-and-agenticity/Also, your comment brings to mind Daniel Dennett's discussion (e.g., in Dawin's Dangerous Idea) that many people just can't can't fathom how little... »
Erich Vieth on If the Bible is really the word of God, why aren’t more people actually reading it?
Tony. All kidding aside. Really. You don't want to anger Babe. After you die, you could be sent to the gore pit where you will be repeatedly gored for eternity. I'm certain of it. ps. Reallypps. Truly. »
Tony Coyle on The world’s biggest floating gated community
but how many starbucks?IN the past I could not have imagined living away from land - I needed books and movies and cosy little cafes, and ships could not provide any of that (at least, not with any degree of choice) Now! w00t! I can get my books electronically, likewise my movie fix. Hopefully there is turnover in the 'downtown' so room for a bu... »
Tony Coyle on If the Bible is really the word of God, why aren’t more people actually reading it?
ErichOne final observation regarding our Christian friends, TeamSamantha, and their counterparts in American life.One can't help but notice the ever-present theme of agency. Something happens, not through chance, but because some agency caused it to happen.The accident with the missing comments, was immediately ascribed to malicious agency - no th... »
Tony Coyle on If the Bible is really the word of God, why aren’t more people actually reading it?
Erich: but you forgot about the Book of Bunyan. Without that, your Book of Babe is not only incomplete, but blasphemous! Why, without Bunyan we would never have been saved! Believers in Babe without the grace of Bunyan are no better than common unbelievers, and in many cases worse, because such apostates actively seek to undermine the obvious an... »
Erich Vieth on The world’s biggest floating gated community
I still can't get over the size of this ship. It's bigger than my entire neighborhood, the Shaw Neighborhood in the City of St. Louis. http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Shaw-Saint-Louis-MO.html »
Erich Vieth on If the Bible is really the word of God, why aren’t more people actually reading it?
Tony:I have reviewed your detailed summary. It comports with the way I've perceived and understood the unfolding events.It seems, though, that we are at the following stalemate. The Samantha Team insists that the burden of proof is on the Tony Team to disprove extraordinary claims (I just nominated you for team leadership because I enjoy alliterati... »
Tony Coyle on If the Bible is really the word of God, why aren’t more people actually reading it?
SamanthaThe point is that the posters at this site (Erich, Mark, Brynn, and me) have bent over backwards to accommodate your viewpoint, to educate ourselves to your perspective, and have done our best to communicate to you why we think you are misguided, or at least, why we simply do not believe that your book is anything more that a book.You, on t... »
Samantha on If the Bible is really the word of God, why aren’t more people actually reading it?
Tony, I really don't get your point or the angry tone either. Other than maybe, things got a little stirred up and you don't like it. Thank you for the site you gave me, because it revealed that the 1% variance is insignificant, you can take credit for that. »
Tony Coyle on If the Bible is really the word of God, why aren’t more people actually reading it?
Samantha Sorry, WTF? I'll get back to this and your later comments, sequentially. But you have played the comment game falsely from the beginning. You are not an honest player. You do not live up to your promises. You introduce irrelevancies, and conflate otherwise unrelated topics, all to confuse and cloud the discussion - no attempt at clarifica... »
Erich Vieth on If the Bible is really the word of God, why aren’t more people actually reading it?
Thanks, Samantha, but I'll take that as "No deal" from you. »
Karl on If the Bible is really the word of God, why aren’t more people actually reading it?
Rabel,I never took issue with Pilates part in the crucifixion or his statements. I know Pilate didn't want to crucify Jesus.My first point was simply trying to explain how an ambiguity could arise over when Jesus was placed on the cross and when he actually died. Both were part of the crucifixion process and many hours could have separted the star... »
Samantha on If the Bible is really the word of God, why aren’t more people actually reading it?
Than you Rabel for your wonderful post. Erich, I can't answer "I agree" to all of them.A: Inerrant is not an issue because Christians refer to the Bible as the Inspired Word.B. For the most part, yes the gospels are anonymous. But, the uniform testimony of the early church was that Matthew, the tax collector was the author of the 1st gospel. Jo... »
Mark Tiedemann on If the Bible is really the word of God, why aren’t more people actually reading it?
Appreciations to Rabel for chiming in about the difficulties in determining times and dates when there is a confusion of traditions at work.But just for the record, before this becomes more tangled with what is clearly a discussion on "correct translation/interpretation" and how it relates to the veracity of the Bible, for me it wouldn't much matte... »
Erich Vieth on If the Bible is really the word of God, why aren’t more people actually reading it?
I'll take this as a "no deal" from Karl. »
Karl on If the Bible is really the word of God, why aren’t more people actually reading it?
Dan asks about one verse that may have had a bleed through during one of the scribes transcriptions.I can accept that this verse might have originally been - Jesus "was of" God, but this would not change numerous other passages.True, this is the only verse with the simplest plain meaning "Jesus is God."However, what will be done with the many othe... »
Rabel Fibal on If the Bible is really the word of God, why aren’t more people actually reading it?
If you want to learn anything about the Bible, you must cast off your European-paganistic traditions, translations, and see the Passion play out thru a "HEBREW LENSE". That means to know the non-vowel characters or alphabet, this include Paleo-Hebrew and Babylonian Hebrew. It is the only way to understand why Jews do the things they did, from a Tor... »
Samantha on If the Bible is really the word of God, why aren’t more people actually reading it?
Tony, There was no going forward until it was understood that the variants in the Bible which make up 1% doesn't do squat to basic Bible doctrine. I gave you the numbers. You can check it for yourself. Now how do you defend your notion that the "scribes lied and people died" concept? »
Rabel Fibal on If the Bible is really the word of God, why aren’t more people actually reading it?
Karl,I found your comments also, with error,In Luke 23:4, Pilate found no basis for a charge against Yeshua (Jesus).Secondly,In rabbinical thinking, the hour is calulated bt taking the total time of daylight in to 12 equal parts. This is called sha' ah zemanit, or a "proportional hour". Since the duration of daylight varies according to seasons of ... »
Dan Klarmann on If the Bible is really the word of God, why aren’t more people actually reading it?
Karl asks: How about the only clause in the entire Bible that is translated as "Jesus is God" that turns out to be simple misreading of bleed-through on the original "Jesus is of God". Tiny fraction of a percent of the document, but the entire basis of them eventually declaring (not till the 4th Century Council of Nicaea) that this prophet of God ... »
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