behavioural science
Applying how people actually decide to policy, rather than assuming how they should.
FilterEveryone, all time343 from 162 people
- NS
Noah Smith quoted
Economics writer; author of the Noahpinion newsletter
Their wordsRightists will scream "Colorblind meritocracy!" right up until the point where Indian people start doing well, at which point every rightist turns into Ibram Kendi
- SW
Simon Willison quoted
Co-creator of Django and creator of Datasette
Our readingMost businesses and individuals would probably prefer service errors to a surprise $10,000+ bill.
Their wordsI expect that most businesses and individuals would prefer errors to a surprise $10,000+ bill.
↗We're going to need default hard budget caps on pretty much everythingsimonwillison.net
- 5 days earlier
- PL
Pieter Levels quoted
Dutch bootstrapper who builds and runs his internet startups alone
Their wordsonce your home is so great it becomes a prison, so you have to force yourself to go out!
- PL
Pieter Levels quoted
Their wordsAlthough you have to be VERY careful not to isolate yourself, which does happen once you get rich
- 1 day earlier
- BD
Brad DeLong quoted
Economics professor at the University of California
Their wordsBut we have not yet built the habits of mind, or the institutions, appropriate to its successor. We are like the first generation of factory workers who still tried to farm on Sundays: our reflexes were formed for a régime of scarcity, and they misfire badly in a régime of superabundance.
- DH
David Heinemeier Hansson quoted
Creator of Ruby on Rails, CTO of 37signals
Their wordsOnce you understand that the world is full of highly neurotic people who need a doom's day scenario to validate their emotions, it all makes much more sense: Malthusian starvation, pandemic, climate, and now AI.
- 1 day earlier
- AA
Awais Aftab quoted
Psychiatrist and clinical assistant professor at Case…
Their wordsThe problem with medical and psychiatric care is not necessarily that we do too much but that we do too much of some things because we have constrained the supply of all the other things.
↗I Believe in a Radical Abundance of Relational Carepsychiatrymargins.com 1st of 3 in this piece
- 1 day earlier
- RH
Robin Hanson quoted
Associate professor of economics at George Mason University
Their wordsAnd beware: people treated strongly enough like barbarians may come to act that way, at least for a time.
- BD
Brad DeLong quoted
Their wordsThe café supplies enough stimulation to keep the vigilance system idling, but not so much that it captures you.
↗Sana’a Café: Dwight & Telegraph: FRIDAY FOG & FLATLANDSbraddelong.substack.com
- BD
Brad DeLong quoted
Their wordsCoffeehouses are an efficient bundling of: a legitimate reason to leave the house; a socially sanctioned excuse to be idle in public while your back-brain works; a stimulant delivered in a ritual that paces its consumption; and a nonzero probability of a useful accidental encounter.
↗Sana’a Café: Dwight & Telegraph: FRIDAY FOG & FLATLANDSbraddelong.substack.com
- 1 day earlier
- TH
Tim Harford quoted
Economist and journalist
Their wordsNo supercomputing was required: Shannon's machine had just 16 bits of memory. We humans are not hard to read.
↗Random is as random doestimharford.com 1st of 3 in this piece
- GR
Gretchen Rubin quoted
Writer on happiness, habits and human nature
Their wordsMonitoring has an almost uncanny power. It doesn’t require change, but it often leads to change, because people who keep close track of just about anything tend to do a better job of managing it.
- GR
Gretchen Rubin quoted
Their wordsIf you’re having trouble keeping a morning routine, try to know yourself better, and to adapt the routine to suit you. No tool fits every hand.
- NS
Noah Smith quoted
Their wordsCanada has created a norm of killing yourself to save society the burden of caring for you.
- 3 days earlier
- JC
Jack Clark quoted
Co-founder and head of policy at Anthropic
Their wordspeople take a technology and modify it for porny or scammy purposes! This is totally normal and happens with every technology!
↗Import AI 473: The US’s superintelligence strategy; human brain in a mouse skull; and machine hermeneuticsjack-clark.net 2nd of 2 in this piece
- JS
Jonathan Shedler quoted
Clinical psychologist and clinical professor of psychiatry at UCSF
Their wordsThe fantasy that suffering is a claim ticket becomes a powerful resistance to psychological change.
↗Masochism: When Suffering Becomes a Way of Lifejonathanshedler.substack.com 2nd of 3 in this piece
- 1 day earlier
- HN
Haley Nahman quoted
Writer living in Brooklyn and former Man Repeller features director
Their wordsAnticipating what might go wrong is a form of self-protection, but also, it's going to feel pretty much identical to anxiety, which is good to keep in mind.
↗#283: My boyfriend’s insomnia has me spinning outhaleynahman.substack.com 1st of 2 in this piece
- BD
Brad DeLong quoted
Their wordsDisagreement is, often, genuinely about values or truly contested facts.
↗CROSSPOST: NICHOLAS GRUEN: Hobbes on Spin & Bullshitbraddelong.substack.com 3rd of 3 in this piece
- PS
Peter Sellis quoted
Former head of product at Discord
Their wordspeople who are making consistently good decisions I just want to load them up with more decisions till I start to see them make bad ones.
↗90 minutes of unfiltered product advice from Snap and Discord’s product chief | Peter Sellisyoutube.com 13th of 18 in this recording
- 2 days earlier
- ST
Stuart quoted
Founder and editor of ToolGuyd
Their wordsWhen workers talk about more premium brands, such as Occidental Leather, they often complain about the price, and rarely the quality.
- HD
Horace Dediu quoted
Analyst of the business of technology
Their wordsBut then again, people have gotten used to AIs being wrong. There have been improvements in performance and quality, but there's an acceptance that the nature of AI is that it's not deterministic, and usually you get a disclaimer saying answers may be wrong. I don't think there's that much brand risk, as long as the experience is as expected.
↗Siri, not a companion, by design.asymco.com 1st of 2 in this piece
- KJ
Katelyn Jetelina quoted
Epidemiologist; founded Your Local Epidemiologist in March…
Their wordsMoving a vaccine out of that category adds significant implementation barriers that will erode access to vaccines.
↗Two days left to comment on HHS's vaccine category proposalyourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com 2nd of 2 in this piece
- SC
Sasha Chapin quoted
Writer and author of All the Wrong Moves
Their wordsBeing 10% less of an asshole, compounded over years, has tremendous effects.
↗Average moments of a long-term meditatorsashachapin.substack.com 2nd of 3 in this piece
- GR
Gretchen Rubin quoted
Their wordsAn idea expressed in rhyme seems more convincing, which is why "Haste makes waste" is more compelling than "Hurrying fosters error."
↗How to Tackle a Nagging Task: Power Hour!gretchenrubin.com 3rd of 3 in this piece
- SS
Scott Sumner quoted
Monetary economist known for NGDP-level targeting
Our readingPeople systematically overestimate how much any single economic shock affects the macroeconomy.
Their wordsThat's not to say that real shocks never matter-Covid certainly had an impact on the economy-rather that people tend to overestimate the impact of any given shock.
↗Adam Smith’s greatest insight?scottsumner.substack.com 3rd of 3 in this piece
- 1 day earlier
- BT
Brandon Taylor quoted
American novelist and critic, author of Real Life
Their wordsYou don't have to overcome your fear in order to do things that are hard or which frighten you. You can do them scared.
↗labyrinthmaxxing and minotaur hoursblgtylr.substack.com 1st of 4 in this piece
- TH
Tim Harford quoted
Their wordsFirst, if most of our beliefs are handed to us by the society in which we live, it is vital that our society itself values truth and truth-telling.
↗Why the story of the Vegetable Lamb was believedtimharford.com 1st of 2 in this piece
- DA
Dan Ariely quoted
Behavioral economist and Duke University psychology professor; James B
Their wordsIf people are predictably irrational, then maybe we also need to help improve their decisions. Maybe, sometimes, we need to limit their options.
↗When Is It OK to Decide for Other People?danariely.com 1st of 3 in this piece
- DA
Dan Ariely quoted
Their wordsPut these four together — a big decision, hard to reverse, resistant to learning, with deep information asymmetry — and under those conditions I feel much more comfortable saying: let’s not make everyone figure this out alone.
↗When Is It OK to Decide for Other People?danariely.com 2nd of 3 in this piece
- VR
Venkatesh Rao quoted
Writer and consultant on technology
Their wordsA system that combines cosmic stakes, privileged knowledge, personal vocation, and an imperative to act, has a familiar capacity to license extraordinary behavior when ordinary constraints conflict with the mission.
↗EA Safetycontraptions.venkateshrao.com 3rd of 3 in this piece