Well, I just listened to a segment on NPR about "Why Mental Pictures Can Sway Your Moral Judgement". Overall, I am sad that my brain switches between emotional decisions and "cost-benefit mode". I'd like to think that I make level-headed decisions that have no influence from what I picture in my mind. I'd also like to have moral consistency, but according the NPR, scientifically I don't. Listening to something like this causes my brain to really start thinking. There is a mythical "lounge" of sorts in my brain where all of my values chill out and wait until I have to make a moral decision - then they proceed to bring out the moral scales and weigh out all of the considerations until they decide which one looks the best. What? That sounds crazy. How could they come to that sort of decision? And even if it was true, what am I supposed to with that sort of information? Accept it? I think I would have rather heard THAT in less graphic terms.

Maddie Swenson