Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Seeing and Thinking Accurately

(I'm reading Daniel Kahneman's book, Thinking, Fast and Slow.)

I'm not sure this project will improve net utility/happiness/satisfaction,  though it could prove insightful.

All that is insightful is not welcome, all the time.  For instance, if I can see clearly that I'm at least partially a bestial primitive animal, should I want to be aware of that if (and note the if!), I won't necessarily act on those impulses?  Wouldn't it be better to be submerged in my experience and "just" live without having the meta-view of living while I'm trying to do the living?

Should we be aware of everything?  Maybe partial delusion is best.

1 comment:

  1. I think partial delusion (or partial ignorance) can either be the best or the worst possible thing, and you need to further qualify what you mean by it in order to be able to decide. For example, if you're partially ignorant, are you aware that you don't know the things you don't know, or are you also ignorant of the fact that you're ignorant? The latter possibility is probably the worst possible mindframe; it's usually the things you don't know you don't know that are the most dangerous to you. On the other hand, if you're ignorant but also aware that you're ignorant, perhaps you can indeed be happier than if you're fully aware.

    ReplyDelete