Category Archives: Rationality

Scammer’s Logic

Posted on June 28, 2012 by AJ Kessler

Why do “Nigerian” scammers say they’re from Nigeria?  After all, if you were running a widely known scam, wouldn’t you vary the details so you had a better chance of fooling a wider audience? Probably not.  In an interesting paper … Continue reading →

Posted in Food For Thought, Marketing, Money, Persuasion, Productivity, Psychology, Rationality | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Hard Work Is Never Wasted

Posted on June 26, 2012 by AJ Kessler

In school, a lot of kids ask “When will I ever need to know this?”  Why do I need to know how to solve for x?  Who cares whether Amenhotep or Ramesses ruled Egypt first?  When will I ever need … Continue reading →

Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Creativity, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Psychology, Rationality, Self-Improvement | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Freedom, Responsibility, and Child Rearing

Posted on June 25, 2012 by AJ Kessler

The New Yorker asks why American kids lack the responsibility so evident in children of (some) other cultures.  The article concludes that an adolescence of parental fixing, making sure everything is perfect and the kid never fails, results in a … Continue reading →

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Freedom

Posted on June 19, 2012 by AJ Kessler

The free man owns himself. He can damage himself with either eating or drinking; he can ruin himself with gambling. If he does he is certainly a damn fool, and he might possibly be a damned soul; but if he … Continue reading →

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Attitude

Posted on June 13, 2012 by AJ Kessler

Attitudes are infectious. It’s why the happy, gregarious guy is always the life of the party and the center of attention.  Everyone wants some of that happiness.  It’s also why everyone avoids the depressed, quiet guy.  It’s actually easier to … Continue reading →

Posted in Advice, Choice, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Leading, Persuasion, Psychology, Rationality, Relationships | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Being Smarter Doesn’t Mean You Make Better Decisions

Posted on June 12, 2012 by AJ Kessler

In fact, being smarter might actually lead you to make worse decisions. Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman and his scientists measured students on four different points of “cognitive sophistication”.  All four of those measurements were positively correlated with intelligence, meaning that the “more cognitively … Continue reading →

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Spin

Posted on June 10, 2012 by AJ Kessler

[Tom Sawyer] had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it – namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain. – … Continue reading →

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Why Drama

Posted on June 6, 2012 by AJ Kessler

Derek Sivers recounts the time Kurt Vonnegut explained why people concoct drama: People have been hearing fantastic stories since time began. The problem is, they think life is supposed to be like the stories. Let’s look at a very common … Continue reading →

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Making Past Experiences Meaningful

Posted on June 4, 2012 by AJ Kessler

Really great advice from Ben Casnocha: By the time the pizza boxes were emptied out, the pool party earlier in the afternoon seemed positively epic. I felt closer to the people with whom I had shared the experience. And those … Continue reading →

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Why We Lie

Posted on May 31, 2012 by AJ Kessler

Nearly everybody lies and cheats.  For most of us, we lie and cheat about the small things, the stuff that we convince ourselves doesn’t really matter.  But, because everyone does this, the toll adds up quickly.  Whether it’s glancing at … Continue reading →

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Happiness Is Not A Reward – It’s A Consequence

Posted on May 28, 2012 by AJ Kessler

Time is your most limited resource.  You can always make more money, but you can only buy so much time.  Happiness is not a reward for giving up most of your time in exchange for money.  Happiness is a consequence … Continue reading →

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Clothes Make The Man

Posted on May 22, 2012 by AJ Kessler

It has long been known that clothing affects how other people perceive us as well as how we think about ourselves.  It turns out, clothing also affects the way we think. If you wear a white coat that you believe … Continue reading →

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Forgeries on the Brain

Posted on May 18, 2012 by AJ Kessler

When it comes to high art, almost nobody can tell the difference between an original and a good copy.  Even so, we overwhelmingly prefer the original.  Oxford scientists hooked up 14 volunteers to a functional MRI, and then showed them … Continue reading →

Posted in Aesthetics, Art, Food For Thought, Marketing, Persuasion, Psychology, Rationality | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Creativity Is Not A Talent; It’s A Way Of Operating

Posted on May 9, 2012 by AJ Kessler

John Cleese manages to explain about 90 different topics I’ve written about in a 13 minute span.  Below is a really, really excellent speech on fostering creativity, becoming more effective, managing time, and much more.  The short version is excellent, … Continue reading →

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Creating False Memories

Posted on May 7, 2012 by AJ Kessler

Ad men have known for years that they could make people feel good about a brand or product by telling happy stories.  It’s one of the reasons Budweiser spends tens of millions of dollars on advertising during the Superbowl.  They’re … Continue reading →

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