Tag Archives: Rory Sutherland

“If rationality were valuable in evolutionary terms, accountants would be really sexy.”

Friends, let us discuss this point by Rory Sutherland:
“If rationality were valuable in evolutionary terms, accountants would be really sexy.”
1) Is it that professions that are attractive to others and provide social rank satisfy a certain selection criterion, with hidden benefits to society that we can detect? I think so: courage is extremely attractive and heroes are worshipped for a reason, as they take risks for the collective. But is it universal?
2) The accountant definition of rationality is too narrow and not altruistic enough to qualify as useful for the collective. They are scribes, not high priests.
3) We can extend the discussion to other professions: mathematicians (I am told) aren’t interesting to others (except to math students); same with economists. If these professions don’t seem “sexy” is it because they aren’t that “fit”?

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UNINTENDED BONUSES

UNINTENDED BONUSES, Looking for suggestions:
Let us list what comes to mind as an auxiliary function, such the “spandrels of San Marco,” where the necessary space between arches in the Venetian cathedral of San Marco has led to the placement of significant art.
+ A dishwasher allows you to hide dirty dishes. A swimming pool allows adults to be shirtless and feel the summer breeze without looking ridiculous. (Rory Sutherland).
+ Formal dress codes allow overweight men to hide their shape.
+ Dietary laws have the side effect of keeping minorities tight together –and preventing the majority from feeling threatened. In Ottoman Mediterranean cities, interdicts against alcohol allowed tolerance; they prevented non-business socializing with the Christians. It allowed multi-religious cities to flourish.

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