wedrifid comments on TED Talks: Daniel Kahneman - Less Wrong

18 Post author: Cyan 06 March 2010 01:45AM

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Comment author: wedrifid 09 March 2010 03:14:30AM *  1 point [-]

I reject the claim but not what he was (I assume) trying to claim.

I expect people to benefit less from changes in circumstances than they expect. We tend towards emotional homeostasis. I wouldn't have used weather as an example because there are confounding factors that I predict a sufficiently in depth study could identify. I don't, however, think that average people would get the benefits they expect from a warmer climate just because it is more appealing.

If Kahneman was willing to weaken his claim to acknowledge the exceptions that you and I mention or, preferably, if he were to use a better example to illustrate the point then I would accept it. However, Kahneman has high status in the context so this makes it far less likely that he would be willing to make the obvious necessary corrections when prompted. So he would probably stay wrong.