We, the people, in order to further our own selfishness, do refuse to learn. Or at least that's what it appears we believe about the nature of the world. I mean, look at two things about the government and our current economic woes.
1) The stimulus plans: We are now onto Stimulus Plan 3: The Social Engineering coming to a Theater near YOU! It follows in the footsteps (supposedly) of the last one, Stimulus Plan 2: The Bailout, well, except that the money is earmarked for social things, and not, you know, economic things. And that itself followed upon Stimulus Plan! where we all got hot shiny checks. The problem is, if 1 and 2 didn't work, why in the world are we trying the same thing a third time? I think Alcoholic's Anonymous has a saying about repeating the same action and expecting different results...
2) The principles of learning: A basic idea of learning is we learn through rewards and consequences. If I do A, and good things happen, I'll continue to do A. If I do B, and bad things happen, I'll stop doing B. Skinner lays this all out very handily in his writing on Behaviorist theories. The thing is, after writing big checks to banks, they start buying airplanes, giving bonuses, going to Hawaii, and redoing their offices. Now, people are understandably upset, but they are upset at the wrong people! We showed them that if they are stupid with their own money, then Washington will reward them! We reinforced bad behavior, and now we are mad that they are continuing on in bad behavior. Except, we should be mad at Washington for rewarding idiots who misbehave.
Oh, but wait, it gets better. After Stimulus Plan 2 you all voted your guys back into office! Therefore, all of you who did not vote against congressmen who voted for the bailout reinforced voting for bail outs, so it's all your fault! You reinforced bad behavior, you encouraged Washington to be this way, and therefore, executives to be this way. Fortunately for me, none of my congressmen voted for it.
Now, it's time to learn about how to change behavior. Remember, punishment to extinguish behavior. E.g. You vote for huge spendings of my money to fund corporate retreats, I will send you home. On the other hand, rewards encourage behavior. E.g. You vote that people should be responsible for their own actions then I will vote for you again. Sound hard? Let's try to remember this in two years.
1) The stimulus plans: We are now onto Stimulus Plan 3: The Social Engineering coming to a Theater near YOU! It follows in the footsteps (supposedly) of the last one, Stimulus Plan 2: The Bailout, well, except that the money is earmarked for social things, and not, you know, economic things. And that itself followed upon Stimulus Plan! where we all got hot shiny checks. The problem is, if 1 and 2 didn't work, why in the world are we trying the same thing a third time? I think Alcoholic's Anonymous has a saying about repeating the same action and expecting different results...
2) The principles of learning: A basic idea of learning is we learn through rewards and consequences. If I do A, and good things happen, I'll continue to do A. If I do B, and bad things happen, I'll stop doing B. Skinner lays this all out very handily in his writing on Behaviorist theories. The thing is, after writing big checks to banks, they start buying airplanes, giving bonuses, going to Hawaii, and redoing their offices. Now, people are understandably upset, but they are upset at the wrong people! We showed them that if they are stupid with their own money, then Washington will reward them! We reinforced bad behavior, and now we are mad that they are continuing on in bad behavior. Except, we should be mad at Washington for rewarding idiots who misbehave.
Oh, but wait, it gets better. After Stimulus Plan 2 you all voted your guys back into office! Therefore, all of you who did not vote against congressmen who voted for the bailout reinforced voting for bail outs, so it's all your fault! You reinforced bad behavior, you encouraged Washington to be this way, and therefore, executives to be this way. Fortunately for me, none of my congressmen voted for it.
Now, it's time to learn about how to change behavior. Remember, punishment to extinguish behavior. E.g. You vote for huge spendings of my money to fund corporate retreats, I will send you home. On the other hand, rewards encourage behavior. E.g. You vote that people should be responsible for their own actions then I will vote for you again. Sound hard? Let's try to remember this in two years.
