Jukka Aakula

“Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.”
― Andre Gide

“Not only are we subject to cognitive biases, we also frequently seek out things that reinforce them. We interpret facts through the prism of our beliefs; we read the newspapers and seek the company of people who will confirm us in those beliefs; and thus we stick obstinately to these beliefs, whether or not they are correct.”
― Jean Tirole, Economics for the Common Good

“Genetics, not lack of willpower, is the major reason why people differ in BMI. Success and failure, credit and blame, in overcoming problems should be calibrated relative to genetic strengths and weaknesses.”
― Robert Plomin, Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are

“Oxytocin and vasopressin facilitate mother-infant bond formation and monogamous pair-bonding, decrease anxiety and stress, enhance trust and social affiliation, and make people more cooperative and generous. But this comes with a huge caveat—these hormones increase prosociality only toward an Us. When dealing with Thems, they make us more ethnocentric and xenophobic. Oxytocin is not a universal luv hormone. It’s a parochial one.”
― Robert M. Sapolsky, Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst