http://mindhacks.com/2010/07/19/more-a-danger-to-ourselves/ Neuroscience and psychology tricks to find out what's going on inside your brain. Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:27:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://mindhacks.com/2010/07/19/more-a-danger-to-ourselves/#comment-4706 Tue, 20 Jul 2010 23:05:30 +0000 http://mindhacksblog.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/more-a-danger-to-ourselves/#comment-4706 I saw this piece a few days ago, and the use of the term “decisions” in saying “our personal decisions kill us” rubs me the wrong way. It implies that people are making well thought out, conscious choices about things like nutrition, sex, substance use, criminality, and the like. Are these really thought-out decisions, or are they motivations gone awry? How much of these kinds of behaviors are guided by conscious choice?

]]> http://mindhacks.com/2010/07/19/more-a-danger-to-ourselves/#comment-4705 Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:09:44 +0000 http://mindhacksblog.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/more-a-danger-to-ourselves/#comment-4705 Firstly, I’d want to know how pre-
mature death is defined. Is it death
prior to life expectancy in that time
or something else? In 1900, regulations
were so lacking that premature death
due to accident or work injuries was
very high. That has nothing to do with
a change in personal choices, but a
change in regulation that has made those
kind of deaths much more rare now,
highlighting premature deaths that
result from smoking, etc. In 1900, for
example, level train crossings in cities
were very common and led to many deaths
and loss of limbs. Prosthetic limbs was,
in those days, a roaring business.

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