Humans Are Not Vulcans

This is a fascinating presentation by Dan Ariely.



This also brought to mind one of my favorite new blogs, You Are Not So Smart, which sets about debunking common knowledge that we take for granted.

The more we learn about ourselves, the more interesting we become. Stuff like this makes me think about how easily we can be manipulated in all sorts of subtle ways. I also found myself thinking about how I wasn't like this. I'm rational. I'm not like the mindless sheeple. And then I had to tell myself that, unfortunately, I'm human, too, and prone to this as much as anyone else. The important thing, of course, is to be cognizant of it, to do what we can to recognize our weaknesses and our failings and take steps to mitigate them.

If you are, you know, one of those weak-willed suckers that is.