Normative Decision Theory

A theory is a map somebody drew after walking the terrain. Normative Decision Theory is a useful map, provided you remember it is not the terrain.

The theory's gift is vocabulary. Once you have the word, you can see the thing — in your office, in your family, in the news. Before the word, it was only a vague discomfort after dinner.

It is worth keeping in your pocket not because it is always right, but because it is always available. A tool you carry beats a perfect tool you left at home.

A good librarian is a quiet revolutionary. She knows that a child with a borrowing card and a long afternoon is more dangerous to ignorance than any syllabus.

Learning is the one wealth that survives every partition of fortune. The idea has done its job if, the next time it happens to you, you smile before you react.