Learning to love the irrational mind
In his seven years as a New York Times op-ed columnist, David Brooks has witnessed the full range of politicians’ charms. He has seen Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney memorize the first names of every voter in a New Hampshire diner, and held former President Bill Clinton’s friendly gaze in conversation, even across a crowded room. But when it comes time to create and vote on policies, Brooks said, that ability to relate to and empathize with the common man all but disappears. Brooks found himself wondering, he told a packed crowd at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) on Tuesday (April 12), “Why do the most socially attuned people on earth — the people I cover — make the most dehumanized decisions?” The answers, Brooks said, lay in both politicians’ and American society’s flawed views of human nature. By trying to create policies based on the idea that humans are...