simplicio comments on Alien parasite technical guy - Less Wrong

61 Post author: PhilGoetz 27 July 2010 04:51PM

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Comment author: simplicio 04 August 2010 04:04:11AM 0 points [-]

I've seen similar stuff in a book on happiness (Happiness Hypothesis?) by Jonathan Haidt, for what it's worth.

with no more detail about what decisions (which is really the crucial question), nothing else in the post can be argued with.

My understanding is that almost all decisions are made unconsciously, with the rational, conscious part of the brain essentially functioning as the PR department, contriving rationalizations (c.f., confabulation in split-brain patients).

If I remember correctly, Haidt argues that decisions are only made consciously when the unconscious brain fails because two (or more) options are "close" - i.e., it requires step-by-step reasoning to choose.