Standing on the shoulder of giants
Our work is inspired by the intellectual pioneers who paved the
way for the scientific inquiry into the value and nature of beliefs
Adam Smith (1759)
The Theory of Moral Sentiments
“To what purpose is all the toil and bustle of this world? […]
To be observed, to be attended to, to be taken notice of with sympathy, complacency, and approbation, are all the advantages we can propose to derive from it.”
Jeremy Bentham (1789)
An Introduction to the Principles
of Morals and Legislation
“The simple pleasures of which human nature is susceptible seem to be the pleasures of (1) sense (2) wealth (3) skill
(4) friendship (5) a good reputation (6) power (7) piety
(8) benevolence (9) malevolence (10) memory (11) imagination (12) expectation (13) association (14) relief.“
Thomas Schelling (1984)
The mind as a consuming organ
“We also consume by thinking. We consume past events that we can bring up from memory; future events that we can believe will happen; contemporary circumstances not physically present, like the respect of our colleagues and the affection of our neighbors and the health of our children; and we can even tease ourselves into believing and consuming thoughts that are intended only to please. We consume good news and bad news. We even—and this makes it a little like traditional economics—spend resources to discover the truth about things that happened in the past.”
Robert P. Abelson (1986)
Beliefs Are Like Possessions
“One finds or adopts beliefs with personal or social appeal. […] One shows off one’s beliefs to people one thinks will appreciate them, but not to those who are likely to be critical. One is inclined to ornament beliefs from time to time, especially when communicating them to others […] One occasionally adds new beliefs to one’s collection, if they do not glaringly clash with those one already has. It is something like the accumulation of furniture. One is reluctant to change any of one’s major beliefs. They are familiar and comfortable, and a big change would upset the whole collection.”