Thursday, November 22, 2007

Prediction addiction

[The root jna-, by the way, does not really mean ‘to know’, as in English. It means rather ‘to know oneself’, ‘to realize oneself as’, it does not have an objective connotation of knowing something but knowing oneself in a particular state; for instance, one cannot say in Sanskrit: “granthasya jnanam”, “knowledge of the book”, but only ‘granthena jnanam’ “the knowledge by the book”, where ‘knowledge’ refers to a subjective state of the knower, to his self-realized particular state of being.
The root vid-, on the other hand, from which ‘veda’ is derived, means ‘to know objectively’, ‘to discover’, ‘to find out’, it has a kind of objective connotation of knowledge existing outside the knower. -- by Vladimir on Mon 11 Dec 2006 06:35 AM PST Profile Permanent Link Re: Instruments of Knowledge and Post-Human Destinies]
[As the research continues to mount that we are indeed more hardwired like our animal ancestors than we care to admit, it helps to know these hardwired systems in ourselves to more understand our response mechanisms that can and do trigger our emotions and ultimately our actions. To assist in this effort, the book highlights and goes into some detail of the more recognized emotions like Greed, Fear, Regret, and Confidence of which all play on our performance in life, as well, and even more so in optimizing our wealth in the investing process...
It was a treat to read this very well written (read as not too technical) on the pitfalls of our decision making and how we sometimes unknowingly do things that are against our own best interests. -- By James East - Customer Reviews Your Money and Your Brain: How the New Science of Neuroeconomics Can Help Make You Rich by Jason Zweig]
It is certainly impossible to unravel the mystery of why "our brains lead us to self-deception." If we are tricked on the money-making front, no infallibility can be claimed on the technology front also. This realization, obviously, should exercise some sobering impact on the hubris that the humanity is suffering from. Perhaps therefore, sociologists are demanding withdrawal of all specialists from the top decision-making posts. [TNM] 5:43 PM 7:16 PM

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