Daniel Kahneman : link to video - thoughts?

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livinlite
Posts: 113
Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2012 7:38 pm

Post by livinlite »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUYQrLsmNMM
Nobel Laureate and recent author of "Thinking Fast and Slow"..
Anyone read it? Thoughts?
I find a lot to like in that interview, despite the horrible skills of the interviewer.


livinlite
Posts: 113
Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2012 7:38 pm

Post by livinlite »

And Steve Keen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWXA8UGC ... re=related
I finally got around to reading The Black Swan and am following through on many of the links and references as I go..
"Debunking Economics" is on my short-list as well; once I get some more trade-in credit at der Amazonia.


Dragline
Posts: 4436
Joined: Wed Aug 24, 2011 1:50 am

Post by Dragline »

I've read both and would highly recommend them.
Kahneman's book strikes chords on many levels. It is pleasant reading, because it reads like a researcher's memoir and celebration of the work he did with Amos Tversky. You can tell he misses his former partner and feels a lot of regret that Tversky was not alive when the Nobel was awarded, and thus could not share in the prize. The book is dedicated to Tversky.
But more far-reaching, it lays down fundamental principles of human behavior and decision-making that ought to be the bedrock of further thought in these areas. The world can and hopefully will be a different place when policy-makers have a broader understanding of this body of research and how it might be applied. We do see some incremental application in some places - for example, many employers have moved 401(k) contributions to an "opt-in" default instead of an "opt-out" mechanism. The thinking behind this policy originates with this work.
Kahneman's model of the mind as containing a System 1 (instantaneous reactive thought/habit) and System 2 (rational mental gear grinding) also has broad applications and analogs that even he may not appreciate. For example, Gladwell touches on the same topic in "Outliers" when he observes it takes about 10,000 hours of training in an area (sports, music, chess, programming, business) to develop the automated thinking (Kahneman's system 1) that is necessary to perform at an expert level. The classic self improvement works of James Allen, Wallace Wattles, Napoleon Hill and Earl Nightingale also rely fundamentally on the same kind of mind model, albeit in a much more metaphysical or quasi-religious manner. Kahneman's work may serve to bridge the gulf between the science aspect of this model and the faith/belief sphere that seems completely remote right now.
The historical review of economic thought in "Debunking Economics" ought to be required reading for anyone who would pontificate on the subject. I know I wish I would have had it when I was getting my degree. Once you read it, you'll appreciate that most statements you hear about the subject -- especially anything predictive -- are not meaningful, because they can only be logically correct under a very limited set of assumptions that seldom exist in the real world.


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