We are not irrational monkeys, but supercomputers.

​​We are not irrational monkeys, but supercomputers. The paradigm shift of irrationality indirectly confirms the computational theory of mind. Our irrationality (Irrational behavior in decision-making and making choices) unique. No animal can act so irrationally by choosing, taking risks, or cooperating. Humans are a species whose irrationality (tonguewise) It has made us king of nature and superintelligent likeness of God. (Who else of the animals would trade life in paradise for a few bites of an apple - a joke corresponding to reality).

To unravel the nature of our irrationality, psychologists, economists and neuroscientists are purposefully trying 60+ years. As a result, thousands of scientific articles and more than two hundred monographs were published, several Nobel Prizes were awarded, millions of copies of world bestsellers were sold. 1 But the central question of economics, psychology, and neuroscience of irrational decision-making is: Why are people’s choices so biased?- still open.

It has been established that the source of biases are diverse cognitive distortions. 2. But what kind of mechanism causes them?

According to traditional ideas, the mechanism is something like this. The brain functions as several competing agents. 3: Quickly and unconsciously on the automaton of the decisive system 1 • An attentive, thoughtful and therefore slow system 2 As a result of the internal competition of agents, cognitive distortions arise that lead to irrational behavior: strange financial decisions; actions committed as if in the unconscious; impulsive decisions to the detriment of oneself. (drugs) etc. 4

However!

Trends in Cognitive Sciences 5 New work by the father of neuroeconomics published Paul Glimcher. «Efficiently irrational: deciphering the riddle of human choice». She sums up. 10-Glimcher's years of research, The results of which can radically change the existing scientific paradigm of explaining the irrationality of people’s choices in neuroscience, psychology, economics, sociology and politics..

The revolutionary conclusion of the new theory is that There is no irrationality: the brain does not maximise the utility function, but is absolutely rationally looking for a compromise between the accuracy of its calculations and the energy expenditure on them..

Homo superintelligentness has a high energy price (see figure below): • The computational needs of the brain around 10 wattage (overnight 240 Watt) • For production 240 It takes about a watt. 400 calculus (near 20% of daily intake of calories from food) This is an ultra-efficient energy consumption of the brain compared to modern computers that consume energy. 30-100 more energy, but able to provide the highest accuracy of calculations.

To increase the accuracy of brain calculations by an order of magnitude would require 100 Watts of power per hour. • The energy consumption per day would be 2400 Watt • For their production is required approximately 4000 energy. If the amount of calories is about 70% of the daily requirement, then a person will need to consume daily food containing about 5600 Calorie.
To improve the accuracy of the calculations only 1 People would have to eat in order. 3 times more.

The reality of the environment did not allow evolution to go on such energy expenditure of the brain. We had to find a trade-off between accuracy and power consumption.

How it is done in the brain, Glimcher himself tells in an hour-long lecture 6. And if Glimcher's right, it's strong. (circumstantial) argument in favor of a computational theory of mind. #Рациональность #КогнитивныеИскажения #ПринятиеРешений