Cass R. Sunstein Quotes

#1. Star Wars and Star Trek are good in different ways, and in fairness, you can't really rank them. But Star Wars is better. "YOUR

Cass R. Sunstein

#2. Covertly influencing decision processes such as that the resulting decision is aligned with higher-order desires may actually enhance autonomy.

Cass R. Sunstein

#3. The multiple failures of top-down design, and the omnipresence of unintended consequences, can be attributed in large part, to the absence of relevant information.

Cass R. Sunstein

#4. Emotions can get in the way of truth-seeking. People do not process information in a neutral way.

Cass R. Sunstein

#5. Social scientists emphasize that people use the "availability heuristic," which means that we assess risks by asking whether a bad (or good) event is cognitively "available." It

Cass R. Sunstein

#6. If government is to respect people's autonomy, or to treat them with dignity, it should not deprive them of freedom. It should treat them as adults, rather than children or infants.

Cass R. Sunstein

#7. We are blind to the fact that what we do to them deprives them of their rights; we do not want to see this because we profit from it, and so we make use of what are really morally irrelevant differences between them and ourselves to justify the difference in treatment.

Cass R. Sunstein

#8. They suggest that with respect to facts, partisan differences are much less sharp than they seem - and that political polarization is often an artifact of the survey setting.

Cass R. Sunstein

#9. People are moderately more likely to favor approaches that involve reflection and deliberation.

Cass R. Sunstein

#10. There is widespread support for nudges that are taken to have legitimate ends and to be consistent with the interests and the values of most choosers.

Cass R. Sunstein

#11. If we understand "rights" to be legal protection against harm, then many animals already do have rights, and the idea of animal rights is not terribly controversial.

Cass R. Sunstein

#12. Janis believed that groups are especially likely to suffer from groupthink if they are cohesive, have highly directive leadership, and are insulated from experts.

Cass R. Sunstein

#13. Do not be misled by expert bravado or by an expert's own sense of how he or she is doing. Evidence is a much better guide than an impressive self-presentation.

Cass R. Sunstein

#14. It might also count as an insult to dignity, and a form of infantilization, if the government constantly reminds people of things that they already know.

Cass R. Sunstein

#15. If manipulation really does increase welfare, then it would seem to be justified and even mandatory on ethical grounds.

Cass R. Sunstein

#16. By itself, partyism is not the most serious threat to democratic self-government. But if it decreases government's ability to solve serious problems, then it has concrete and potentially catastrophic consequences for people's lives. I

Cass R. Sunstein

#17. People are more likely to object to nudges that appeal to unconscious or subconscious processes.

Cass R. Sunstein

#18. To become an extremist, hang around with people you agree with.

Cass R. Sunstein

#19. Economists suggest that we should assess the value of decisions in terms of two considerations: the costs of decisions and the costs of errors.

Cass R. Sunstein

#20. Partyism certainly isn't as horrible as racism; no one is enslaved or turned into a lower caste. But according to some measures, partyism now exceeds racism. In

Cass R. Sunstein