One of the things I wonder about in the current political climate is whether people actually still think. Or if they just act out whatever they believe is expected of them? We see this at the macro level, like the US congress failing to stop the self-harm behavior of their president, despite having the legislative power to do so. Apparently compliance is more important than protecting their citizens. We also see it in the small when we adjust our buying patterns after having been bombarded by ads put together by teams of experts. Sometimes we need simple rules to avoid falling into traps. For instance, one of my rules is that any food that claims to be healthy for you is not and I avoid it. But in general I think we would all benefit from spending a bit more time thinking about the first-order, second-order and third-order effects of our decisions. A famous study a few years ago offered people the opportunity to sit by themselves in a room without any distractions or to scroll social media while receiving mild electric shocks. Most people chose the mild electric shocks! Our culture has reached a point where we avoid thinking if we can. But that’s not us, right?