Comments on: Economic Man: Absent without leave in the pages of the NYT http://cultureby.com/2006/02/economic_man_ab.html This Blog Sits At the Intersection of Anthropology and Economics Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:10:58 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Tom Guarriello http://cultureby.com/2006/02/economic_man_ab.html/comment-page-1#comment-4750 Tom Guarriello Wed, 22 Feb 2006 13:26:48 +0000 http://grantmccracken.com/cco/http:/grantmccracken/page-title#comment-4750 <p>If the concept of "rationality" does not also include that of "murky," then the rationality we're speaking of is not the kind that belongs to human beings. It would have to be rationality that belongs to some disembodied cyber-extrapolation. </p> If the concept of "rationality" does not also include that of "murky," then the rationality we're speaking of is not the kind that belongs to human beings. It would have to be rationality that belongs to some disembodied cyber-extrapolation.

]]> By: Anonymous http://cultureby.com/2006/02/economic_man_ab.html/comment-page-1#comment-4749 Anonymous Wed, 22 Feb 2006 08:33:56 +0000 http://grantmccracken.com/cco/http:/grantmccracken/page-title#comment-4749 <p>Here's the bit that caught my eye in the excerpt: "thrown us back to the murky realms". That's the loaded part.</p> <p>I actually do find rational economics deeply flawed when it treats us as entirely rational beings. But that is not to say that emotions should be triumph, taking us back to the reptile brain.</p> <p>What I think is happening is we are learning that reason and emotion are inseparable and that we need to go forward not back to something that gives rationality its full due AND gets that incentives etc often have many unintended consequences. It's a move from treating the world as complicated to seeing it as complex.</p> Here's the bit that caught my eye in the excerpt: "thrown us back to the murky realms". That's the loaded part.

I actually do find rational economics deeply flawed when it treats us as entirely rational beings. But that is not to say that emotions should be triumph, taking us back to the reptile brain.

What I think is happening is we are learning that reason and emotion are inseparable and that we need to go forward not back to something that gives rationality its full due AND gets that incentives etc often have many unintended consequences. It's a move from treating the world as complicated to seeing it as complex.

]]> By: Auto http://cultureby.com/2006/02/economic_man_ab.html/comment-page-1#comment-4748 Auto Tue, 21 Feb 2006 02:30:42 +0000 http://grantmccracken.com/cco/http:/grantmccracken/page-title#comment-4748 <p>"maximizes with a cunning we have yet to fathom" -- that's the best kind of maximizing.</p> "maximizes with a cunning we have yet to fathom" — that's the best kind of maximizing.

]]> By: Raw Data http://cultureby.com/2006/02/economic_man_ab.html/comment-page-1#comment-4747 Raw Data Tue, 21 Feb 2006 00:40:37 +0000 http://grantmccracken.com/cco/http:/grantmccracken/page-title#comment-4747 <p>Since when does anyone take David Brooks seriously as an intellectual?</p> Since when does anyone take David Brooks seriously as an intellectual?

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