#5 - The Art of Decision Making

Lulie and David are joined by guest Mark Alexander, the Producer of Art of Accomplishment's Great Decisions course, to do a deeper dive into how decisions are made.

They discuss having competing wants, Popperian problem-solving, the difference between 'shoulds' and a non-coercive (fun!) version of morality, emotion, and the participation of different subconscious processes in decision making.

Mark asks "What are 'hangups'?", and David discusses mental blocks and how to get back to a creatively problem-solving state of mind. Lulie shares a problem she has with getting back to that creative place, namely: when do you go into your resisted feelings, and when do you analyse the problem? 

00:00 Introducing: Lulie, David and Mark! 00:33 Competing wants vs 'shoulds' 02:23 Morality: coercive vs non-coercive 04:35 Why would we need the word 'should'? 05:55 Wants rest on morality! 06:51 Needle phobia example (of conflicting wants) 09:05 💩 Decision Theory, utilities, game theory  12:01 What guides creative decision-making? 12:54 What is a hangup? 14:58 Hangups, emotions, inexplicit vs explicit 21:12 Problems are pleasurable, fun 24:31 Feeling the feels unblocks creativity 25:45 Step #1: Feel better. 30:57 Lulie's struggle between emotion vs analysis 34:25 David interjects. "All things inside the mind worth calling 'mind' are creative." 35:50 ... What about the voice in the head? 41:00 What draws us forwards, towards good explanations? 42:42 Frustration 44:52 Do we ever have to suffer? 46:39 Hobgoblins, anti-rational memes 48:40 Details for the How to Make Great Decisions course by Art of Accomplishment

Memes article by David Deutsch: The Evolution of Culture

If you're looking to improve your relationship with decisions in 2024, Art of Accomplishment is offering its once-a-year Decisions course starting January 11th. (Sign-ups close this Monday January 8th.)

Discount code for $100 off:  LULIE100 

I'll be a participant this year too, so this is a chance to do it alongside me as I share my own deep-dive journey there. Hope you'll join me!