So there's been a lot of talk about how John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin for VP demonstrates the danger of trusting your instincts and making important decisions with your gut. But I think such a conclusion is unfair - not to McCain, but to our very own brain.
After all, one of the major findings of neuroscience in the last decade or so has been the tremendous power of the emotional mind. The unconscious, long derided as a Freudian underworld, ...
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The experiments that Lehrer explores are interesting, but not entirely relevant. Buying a car and leading the world are tasks of a different nature and magnitude. The experiments reflect the performance of average subjects. The very purpose of vettings and primaries and debates and elections is to uncover the people with the best judgment and leadership skills, not to revert to the mean. The framing also ignores the news stories that Palin was picked by party bosses over the objections and preferences of McCain, and that is a bigger story.
