Not rational, am I Rural Ramblings

An article in the UK’s Guardian newspaper by Deborah Orr set me to thinking. It was about rationality. Basically, Orr was arguing that people, even top people, don’t make rational decisions. And, you know what? I think the lady may be right.

I’ve long since thought and seen first hand how a group of people around a board table, cabinet table and family dining table for that matter, get caught up in the heat of a moment and make some decisions that prove to be wacko with the benefit of hindsight.

The human mind and body has been described as organic machines. We’re great, so to speak, and much more about our very natures is yet to be explored. There are neurons in the human heart and there is debate as to whether there is a brain function, which would lead much more to the credence of having a broken heart.

So, we’re awesome organic machines with a difference, some may call it enhancements, others a curse. We have emotions, all of us. I also believe, although many scientists may deny this, that animals have emotions too. Take a top rate organic computer with a brain capacity of around one million gigabytes (2.5 petabytes), saddle it with emotions that can swing wildly with unbalanced body chemistry, and I would suggest that the decisions that come forth will be at best, questionable and at worst downright deranged. I would argue that politicians and leaders are little better at getting it right than the average Joe. No wonder the world is screwed up.

Ha, ha, I hear you cry. Artificial Intelligence (AI) will save the day. But will it? Think about it. Computers are only as good as the data that gets put into them (flawed). Add to that factor that not even a computer will have hundred per cent knowledge or programming that lead them to make conclusions or decisions. Known unknowns if you will. At the end of the day an AI decision or output may seem to be rational but when you get right into it may not be.

The danger is, I guess, when AI systems make decisions that it’s flawed reasoning knows must be rational. If AI develops emotions than I think we have a bad case of, “Houston we have a problem.”

We can make the best decisions that we can at the time with the information that we have and the emotional state we are in. I think, if it’s possible, sleeping on decisions or responses may help quite a lot.