Robert Oppenheimer - B F Skinner - Daniel C Dennett - Unabomber: The True Story 1996 - Red Dwarf TV - J K Galbraith - Jean-Paul Sartre - Proverbs - Sophocles - Tom Robbins - Mary McCarthy - C Northcote Parkinson - Horizon TV - J R R Tolkien - Mia Hamm - Ralph Waldo Emerson - Friedrich Hayek - Slave to the Algorithm 2018 - Ozark TV - Rob Bell TV - Andes Plane Crash TV -
The decision to seek or not to seek international control of atomic energy, the decision to try to make or not to make the hydrogen bomb, these are rooted in complex technical issues. But they touch the very basis of our morality. It is grave danger for us that these decisions are taken on the basis of facts held secret. Robert Oppenheimer
I did not direct my life. I didn’t design it. I never made decisions. Things always came up and made them for me. That’s what life is. B F Skinner
We live in a world that is subjectively open. And we are designed by evolution to be ‘informavores’, epistemically hungry seekers of information, in an endless quest to improve our purchase on the world, the better to make decisions about our subjectively open future. Daniel C Dennett, Freedom Evolves
The Manifesto, Paragraph 67: Our lives depend on decisions made by other people. Usually we do not know the people who make them. Unabomber: The True Story 1996 starring Dean Stockwell & Robert Hays & Tobin Bell & Victoria Mallory & Bill Mondy & Michael Flynn & Scott Wilkinson & Noel De Souza & Joyce Cohen et al, director Jon Purdy
For every decision that’s made, an alternative decision is played out in another reality. Red Dwarf s4e5: Dimension Jump, Bongo to Ace Rimmer, BBC 1991
A wrong decision isn’t forever; it can always be reversed. The losses from a delayed decision are forever; they can never be retrieved. J K Gailbraith, A Life in our Times, 1981
It is only in our decisions that we are important. Jean-Paul Sartre
A wise man makes his own decisions; an ignorant man follows public opinion. Chinese proverb
Quick decisions are unsafe decisions. Sophocles
Stay committed to your decisions but stay flexible in your approach. Tom Robbins
A man’s mind will very generally refuse to make itself up until it be driven and compelled by emergency. Anthony Trollop, Ayala’s Angel
Be willing to make decisions. That’s the most important quality in a good leader. General George S Patton
If someone tells you he is going to make a ‘realistic decision’, you immediately understand that he has resolved to do something bad. Mary McCarthy, On the Contrary, 1961
The man who is denied the opportunity of taking decisions of importance begins to regard as important the decisions he is allowed to take. C Northcote Parkinson, Parkinson’s Law, 1958
Making decisions, even simple ones, is a tricky process. And you’re very very bad at it. Horizon: How to Make Better Decisions, BBC 2008
Prospect theory observes that we’re not always rational about decisions. ibid.
It might also be that we simply can’t countenance our decisions being wrong. Once we’ve made up our minds there’s far too much invested to back-pedal. We simply post-rationalise and pretend that it was a great choice all along. ibid.
Watch out for loss or gain situations. Realise that emotions are an essential part of all decisions but try not to let them get the upper hand. ibid.
We like to think that as a species we are pretty smart. We like to think we are wise rational creatures. But we may have to think again. In every decision you make there's a battle in your mind between intuition and logic. Horizon: How You Really Make Decisions, BBC 2014
Some of the best clues to the working of our minds come not when we get things right but when we get things wrong. ibid.
We glide through the world blissfully unaware of most of what we do and how little we really know our minds. ibid.
Fast intuitive system one that is incredibly powerful and does most of the driving and slow logical system two that is clever but a little lazy. ibid.
A conflict between our two systems of thinking. ibid.
These biases explain so many things we get wrong. Our impulsive spending, trusting the wrong people, not seeing the other person’s point of view, succumbing to temptation. ibid.
A bias called loss aversion ... A vital insight into human behaviour. ibid.
A new branch of economics – behavioural economics ... the way we actually make decisions. ibid.
We may come to a better understanding of our own minds. ibid.
So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. J R R Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
Follow your heart and make it your decision. Mia Hamm
Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Unemployment or the loss of income which will always affect some in any society is certainly less degrading if it is the result of misfortune and not deliberately imposed by authority. Friedrich Hayek
While people will submit to suffering which may hit anyone, they will not so easily submit to suffering which is the result of the decision of authority. It may be bad to be just a cog in an impersonal machine; but it is infinitely worse if we can no longer leave it, if we are tied to our place and to the superiors who have been chosen for us. Dissatisfaction of everybody with his lot will inevitably grow with the consciousness that it is the result of deliberate human decision. Friedrich Hayek
Algorithms define our lives … An enormous efficiency operation is being conducted, taking decision-making away from humans and handing them over to the rules and laws of the computer. But what are we surrendering to? What does the world look like when algorithms determine our personal future? Slave to the Algorithm, 2018
Human beings make decisions and commit acts that make things happen … People make decisions: shit happens. Ozark s1e8: Kaleidoscope, Marty, Netflix 2017
Difficult decisions had to be made about what we’d do in the event of defeat. Rob Bell, The Buildings that Fought Hitler V: We Shall Never Surrender, Yesterday 2020
In 1972, 45 people boarded a flight from Uruguay to Chile. Only 16 would return having made one of the most incredible decisions of their lives. To eat or starve to death. The decision would live with them forever. Andes Plane Crash: Escape & Rescue I, captions, Channel 5 2024
I said I don’t want to wait here. I want to go back to my father. I want to go back to my life. ibid. survivor
40 passengers and five crew. ibid.
And the horrid sound of the impact. Instantly everything went black. ibid.
It is believed the accident was caused by pilot error. 12 people died in the crash. 5 more died in the first 24 hours. ibid. captions
We put all the dead together. We covered them with snow as a kind of burial. Then we waited for rescue. ibid. survivor
And I know that everyone is thinking the same thing. ibid.
In 1972, the survivors of a plane crash were stranded in the Andes Mountains. With freezing temperatures and no food, they faced an extraordinary battle to survive. Andes Plane Crash: Escape & Rescue II, captions
And then comes the infamous radio announcement that they had carried out the search. ibid. survivor
Avalanche: We were there three days – three days covered in snow. ibid.
We tried to light a cigarette. We couldn’t make fire. ibid.
If we don’t do something now, we’ll suffocate like rats. ibid.
We organised the first expedition … They were really very scared. ibid.