The Brain On AutoPilot


	The Brain On AutoPilot

debbyski

5-29-2008 8:24 AM

290 views

tags:

it's, good, to, zone, out, eh?

debbyski says:

"Marcus, on the other hand, seems to think habitual behavior -- human "autopilot" -- is a design flaw. But just as auto-pilot is useful for commercial airliners, auto-pilot is useful -- even indispensable -- for humans."

1 Comment |

Add a Comment

5-29-2008 3:02 PM

mooner-one

My auto pilot has failed on many occasions but my real pilot got off his butt and corrected the hiccup.

Login to Comment. Not a member yet? Sign up

The Science of Happiness

Wrong Woman; Wrong Message

Super-Space Cube "to Link All Known Techno...

US Government Takes On Six Trillion Dollar...

A-Space: Social-networking site designed f...

Alaska Gov was the piggest of the pork bar...

More clips from debbyski

Bringing Out The Beauty

PHECK YOU Golden Delicous Apples!

Mrs. Palin Goes To Washington?

Today's Top Clips

visit the Top Clips page

View the Top Clips from May 29, 2008

Embed This Clip In Your Site...

<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/58b1b771-0bf3-4924-a738-c8fe96733fc0/A3A6F009-88AF-4A77-B3A4-3B268597D994/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-beckley29-2008may29,0,6372024.story?track=ntothtml" href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-beckley29-2008may29,0,6372024.story?track=ntothtml" style="font-size: 11px;">www.latimes.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-beckley29-2008may29,0,6372024.story?track=ntothtml"><DIV>
<A target="" href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-bb29may29,0,6412195.graffitiboard">» Discuss Article</A>
In his article "<A href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-marcus4-2008may04%2C0%2C5015266.story">Does your brain have a mind of its own?</A>," Gary Marcus explains why, despite our intelligence, we humans do so many unintelligent things. The main threats to our intelligence, it seems, are habits, reflexes, apparent overvaluation of immediate gratification and priorities that do not seem like they ought to be priorities.</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-beckley29-2008may29,0,6372024.story?track=ntothtml">
Marcus seems to be saying that deliberative thought is always good but is sometimes dragged down by primitive mental faculties. But he ignores the fact that we also depend on primitive mental faculties to survive. Marcus' claim -- that we cannot evolve out of those faculties for technical reasons -- is necessary to explain why such instincts persist. </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-beckley29-2008may29,0,6372024.story?track=ntothtml">For example, consider the college student who can't stop playing "Halo 3," or solitaire, or whatever (Marcus mentions this phenomenon but doesn't explain it). The college student, however brilliant, has only so much attention to allocate.</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/A3A6F009-88AF-4A77-B3A4-3B268597D994/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>