The French writer Flaubert just gave up and said “there is no truth, there are only ways of seeing”. But that is dangerous. We all see things from our own point of view, but some do it honestly, looking for the facts and trying to be reasonable. Others tell lies and use their power to […]
It is obvious, but sometimes forgotten, that most people choose a flattering Facebook profile and send out news of how successful they are. Others, sitting at home looking at other people’s ‘successful’ lives, might think most of them are happier and more talented than they are, having more fun. The more time you spend looking […]
Watch out for boo words. This well-known termscomes from Karl Marx. He has mentioned Marx Marx is known as founder of communism Therefore he must be a communist (and dangerous and I should ignore him) Steady. Marx was an economist and historian who said a great deal about how society works. He also had political […]
The Behavioural Insights Team, also known as the Nudge Unit, was set up as government body but now operates independently. (n1 ) The key element in their description of their own purpose is “improving outcomes by introducing a more realistic model of human behaviour to policy”. In other words, if governments want people to eat less sugar, take […]
A freelance writer known to us once earned some money by writing web pages for a company that sold tiles. They wanted their site to show lots of recommendations from satisfied customers, so he sat down and wrote 1,000 personal recommendations in different names, from different towns. The tile company sold tiles, the author got […]
Most people, if they read a paper at all, read only one. Try this experiment. On a single day, walk into a supermarket and look at the headlines on all the papers, including as wide a range as you can find. It will be obvious that: Not all major stories appear in all papers. Even […]
This is easier to understand that most people think. Much of it evolved from ideas that have been around for a very long time. What we do in dreams, we also do when we are awake; we invent and fabricate the people with whom we associate and immediately forget that we have done so. – […]
“What is truth?” said jesting Pilate, and would not stay for an answer. – Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and Moral; Of Truth A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks. It is rather the same thing that is happening to the […]